Bengal: 68-year-old man dies post SIR hearing; TMC blames EC, BJP

Kolkata/Jaynagar, Jan 4 (PTI) A 68-year-old man, who had appeared for SIR hearing with a cannula inserted in his nose after being discharged from a hospital, died in Kolkata, triggering a political storm, with the TMC blaming anxiety over voter-roll revision as the cause of his death and the BJP dismissing the charge as “drama”.

Nazitul Mollah, a resident of Uttar Thakurechak area under the Gardeowani gram panchayat in South 24 Parganas's Jaynagar, breathed his last on Saturday night.

Mollah had received a notice for a hearing linked to the SIR of electoral rolls, when he was undergoing treatment for breathing-related ailments, his family members said.

They said Mollah had been admitted to a hospital in Kolkata on December 20 after his condition worsened.

While he was hospitalised, a notice for an SIR hearing was served at his home, allegedly after his name was not found in the 2002 voter list, one of his family members said.

He was discharged on December 28 with a cannula inserted in his nose, and according to the family, he had appeared at the hearing centre on December 31 despite his frail condition.

His health deteriorated again after returning home, and he was readmitted to the same hospital on January 2. Doctors declared him dead on Saturday night, the family said.

“He was unwell for a long time, but the hearing notice pushed him into extreme anxiety. Ignoring his physical condition, he went for the hearing with a tube in his nose. The stress and travel took a toll he could not survive,” the family member said.

The family alleged that fear linked to the SIR process and mental stress aggravated his condition. “SIR took him away from us,” another relative claimed.

The incident has sharpened the political confrontation between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls.

The TMC claimed that at least 56 people have died in the state so far due to "anxiety, stress or suicide allegedly linked to fear surrounding the SIR", and squarely blamed the BJP and the Election Commission for these deaths.

Local TMC leaders visited the bereaved family and accused the poll panel of creating a climate of fear through an "opaque" revision exercise.

“So many people have died due to fear over the SIR process. Now Jaynagar has joined that list. This is happening because of the BJP’s conspiracy to intimidate and disenfranchise poor people,” a local TMC leader said.

The BJP rejected the allegations as “politically motivated”.

“The SIR is a routine process conducted across India to update voter lists. The TMC is exploiting deaths for political gain and to malign the BJP. Law and order and healthcare are the state government’s responsibility,” a local BJP leader said.

The Election Commission is yet to comment on the incident.

The SIR, aimed at updating electoral rolls ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, has sparked tension in several districts, with the TMC alleging that it is being used for “silent voter deletion”, a charge denied by the BJP, which maintains that the exercise is meant to ensure “clean and authentic” voter lists. PTI PNT CORR BDC