The death of a 56-year-old man in Taherpur, Nadia, amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list has sparked widespread concern. The deceased, identified as Shyamlakumar Saha, a resident of Paharpur Gram Panchayat under Kalinarayanpur region, reportedly suffered a fatal heart attack after being gripped by panic following the SIR announcement. Shyamlakumar, who earned his livelihood by selling blankets door-to-door, had been deeply anxious in recent days, according to his family, who allege that fear and stress over the voter list revision triggered his death.
According to his family members, he had come to this side of Bengal 30 years ago. Shyamal had settled his family here. He has two children. They work as masons. His name was not in the 2002 SIR list. He was hearing various kinds of incidents about SIR from different people. And he had become panicked about it. The family claims that he had also started suffering from mental depression. He died on Monday morning. The family claims that he suffered a heart attack due to anxiety about SIR and lost his life.
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Shyamal's daughter-in-law, Doli Saha, said, “Father was in panic about SIR. Since his name was not on the 2002 voter list, he used to talk about committing suicide by consuming poison. The BLO came home and gave forms two days ago. After that, he became even more panicked”.
The family claims that the person had a voter card, an Aadhaar card, a job card, ration card. Even then, he was in panic about his name not being on the 2002 list.
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Notably, since the announcement of the SIR process in the state, several incidents of unnatural deaths have been reported. Most family members allege that the deaths occurred due to panic about SIR.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appealed to the common people not to take any hasty decisions. She has given the message of standing by eligible voters. However, the BJP alleges that Trinamool is spreading misinformation about SIR.
