Actor and singer Anirban Bhattacharya has played down suggestions that his likely summons for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearing by the Election Commission of India (ECI) is politically motivated, saying he sees “nothing unusual” in the process and will appear if called.

Responding to a question from The Telegraph Online on whether the move amounted to political vendetta over his outspoken views, Bhattacharya said, “I don’t think so.” He added that many people are being called for SIR hearings and that his case is no different.

“Just because I sang a song on SIR does not mean I am outside the process. I will go for the hearing. At the next programme, I will write another satirical verse on SIR again,” he said.

Bhattacharya’s name has been considered for a hearing after he was unable to link his voter enrolment to the 2002 electoral roll while submitting the recent enumeration form, as per reports.

Records indicate that while his parents’ names feature in the 2025 voter list, there is no entry for his parents or grandparents in the 2002 roll. No official notice has yet been served on the actor.

Born on 7 October 1986, in Midanpore’s Saratpally, Bhattacharya is currently based in south Kolkata’s Garia with his mother and sister. His voter registration, however, remains linked to Midnapore town, where his name appears in Booth No. 299 under Ward 23 of the Midnapore Municipality.

Bhattacharya’s father passed away in July this year.

Earlier this year, Bhattacharya had made headlines after he sang a couple of satirical verses about the SIR process at a concert for his music band Hooligaanism. The song Tumi Mosti Korbe Jani features Anirban declaring ‘kagoj amra dekhaboi, kagoj amader achhe’ (we will show the papers because we have the documents). Videos of the performance went viral on social media.

The band Hooligaanism also comprises Subhadeep Guha, Debraj Bhattacharya, Krishanu Ghosh, Sushruta Goswami, Nilansuk Datta, Pritam Das, Pritam Deb Sarkar, and Someswar Bhattacharya.