India, Jan. 10 -- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, days after Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was served a hearing notice as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list, calling it "a matter of profound shame".

"It is a matter of profound shame that Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, a nonagenarian and a globally respected intellectual, has been asked to appear before ECI officials to establish his credentials," she wrote.

Banerjee also cited cases of poet Joy Goswami, Tollywood actor and TMC MP Deepak Adhikari, cricketer Mohammed Shami, and a monk of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha, who have been sent hearing notices too.

"Does this not amount to sheer audaci...