Bengal minister Tajmul Hossain summoned for SIR hearings

Kolkata, Jan 19 (PTI) West Bengal minister Tajmul Hossain was summoned for a hearing under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a senior official of the Election Commission said on Monday.

The notice for the hearing was sent to the three-time MLA because of discrepancies between his name and that of his father in the 2002 electoral roll, the official said.

Hossain, the minister of state for micro, small & medium enterprises and textiles, was asked to appear for the hearing at 10.30 am on January 29 with all relevant documents.

Responding to the notice, Hossain said, "It is the same Election Commission that declared me a winner of assembly polls three times and is now seeking to verify whether I am a valid voter." Hossain served as a legislator between 2006 and 2016 and was re-elected to the assembly in 2021, after which he was appointed a minister.

"The same Election Commission under which I have been elected three times as an MLA and am currently a minister will now verify whether I am a valid voter," he said.

The SIR exercise being conducted ahead of the assembly elections due in around three months was aimed at benefiting the BJP in West Bengal, the TMC leader alleged.

"The people of Bengal will respond to all such conspiracies aimed at installing a BJP government in the state," he said.

The poll panel official said that Hossain's father, Didar Hossain, is a converted Muslim from the Yadav community. The family's ancestral home is in Uttar Pradesh, where members of his extended family continue to reside.

An official in the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer's office also said that ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui has also been summoned for an SIR hearing on January 27 at the Jangipara Block Development Office.

"We found discrepancies in the information submitted by Siddiqui," he said.

Siddiqui is the only MLA in the state assembly, who does not belong to either the ruling TMC or the opposition BJP. PTI SCH NN