KOLKATA: Last year, Bengali actor Anirban Bhattacharya courted political attention through satire when his band *Hooliganism* released the song *“Kagoj amra dekhabo, karon amader kachhe kagoj ache”*, a sharp take on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The song went viral, triggering public debate and political reactions across West Bengal.
A year later, the irony has come full circle, with Anirban himself being summoned under the same SIR process. Hearings began across the state on Saturday, with the Election Commission setting up 3,234 hearing centres. In the first phase, around 32 lakh “unmapped” voters — those unable to establish linkage with the 2002 electoral roll — have been called for verification.
According to Election Commission sources, Anirban could not provide linkage to the 2002 voter list while submitting his enumeration form and has therefore been asked to appear for a hearing in early January with the required documents. Though the 1986-born actor currently lives in Garia, Kolkata, with his mother and sister, his name continues to be registered in the Midnapore town voter list, where the Booth Level Officer visited with the enumeration form. Neither Anirban’s name nor those of his parents or grandparents appear in the 2002 electoral roll, though all are listed in the 2025 rolls. His father passed away in July this year. On the professional front, the actor is yet to announce his next project after Raghu Dakat.