If a father’s surname is recorded as Bandyopadhyay and the son’s as Banerjee, or if one uses Chattopadhyay and the other Chatterjee, the voter may be summoned for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearings
– sometimes more than once.
However, when News18 reached out to the Election Commission, sources said these cases are being looked at and will be resolved through local enquiries by Booth Level Officers. Sources in the Election Commission told News18 that voters facing such surname-related issues will no longer be summoned for hearings.
Colonial Clerical Error Returns in SIR
A colonial-era clerical distortion of Bengali surnames has resurfaced during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal, affecting a large number of voters from Kulin Brahmin families.
Assistant Booth Level Officer (BLO) Mainak Banerjee, son of Manik Kumar Bandyopadhyay, has been flagged under “logical discrepancy” due to the difference in surnames. Among Bengalis, the use of Bandyopadhyay and Banerjee, or Chattopadhyay and Chatterjee, is officially accepted and socially understood as equivalent. However, during the SIR process, such variations are being treated as discrepancies.
Despite being an Assistant BLO himself, Mainak Banerjee has already appeared once for a hearing and has been summoned again on January 28.
Speaking to News18, Banerjee said, “This is complete harassment. This should have been handled at the local level. I have been called for a second time unnecessarily. Any BLO would understand this issue. People are getting angry with BLOs because they submit their documents to us, but we have no control over this.”
He added that several such cases are being summoned repeatedly, worsening public frustration.
More Voters Affected
Mainak Banerjee is not alone. Media professional Titas Bandyopadhyay, daughter of Prabhat Banerjee, have also been summoned for a hearing under SIR. In Bengal, it is common knowledge that Banerjee and Bandyopadhyay are interchangeable surnames. Titas has consistently used Bandyopadhyay in all her official documents, yet she has been asked to prove that both surnames refer to the same lineage.
Speaking to News18, Titas said, “I have been called for a hearing on January 31. I live in Kolkata, but I have to travel to Dhanekhali in Hooghly for such a trivial issue. Everyone knows this, yet I am being summoned. This is strange.”
Administrative Gap in SIR
The SIR software appears to flag these surname variations as unrelated identities through algorithm-based matching, without accounting for their well-documented historical equivalence. As a result, voters with valid documentation are being issued notices under “logical discrepancy,” raising questions over identity and eligibility.
Historical Context
Traditional Kulin Brahmin surnames such as Bandyopadhyay, Gangopadhyay, Mukhopadhyay, and Chattopadhyay are Sanskritised forms that predate British rule. During the colonial period, British administrators anglicised these names for administrative convenience, resulting in surnames such as Banerjee, Ganguly, Mukherjee, and Chatterjee.
Over generations, both forms entered official records. In many families, one generation retained the Sanskritised surname while another adopted the anglicised version. These variations remained legally valid and socially accepted — until the current SIR exercise.
