Kolkata: A 57-year-old resident of the Kolkata-adjacent Panihati allegedly died by suicide on October 28, fewer than 24 hours after the Election Commission announced a 'special intensive revision' of the Bengal voter list, among other states.

Pradip Kar's death has ignited widespread political outrage, because he has allegedly left a suicide note blaming his death on fears related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

In the aftermath, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has directly accused the Bharatiya Janata Party – in power at the Union government – of spreading fear. Banerjee has demanded an end to what she described as a “cruel political experiment.”

“I urge the Central Government to stop this inhuman game forever. Bengal will never approve NRC and will not allow anyone to snatch away the dignity or rights of our people,” she wrote on social media.

Trinamool Congress national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee blamed Union home minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for Kar's death.

“They should be named in an FIR [first information report]. Political revenge for Pradip’s death will be taken through votes,” he said.

According to sources at the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office, 54% of West Bengal’s voter list verification process is complete. Mapping work comparing the 2002 and 2025 voter lists is almost finished in most districts, except for Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, which faced delays due to the floods.

District-level mapping progress has varied significantly, ranging from 40% in Paschim Bardhaman and 42% in North 24 Parganas to 65.69% in Paschim Medinipur and 65.29% in Kalimpong.

The Election Commission also faced a barrage of criticism during an all-party meeting convened to discuss the SIR.

State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal reportedly struggled to answer several questions, leading to frustration among political leaders present there. When a Congress representative asked if he was just “playing the role of a post office” to forward complaints to the EC headquarters in Delhi, Agarwal reportedly replied, “Yes, I am here to act as a post office.” The CEO confirmed that Booth Level Officer (BLO) training would continue until November 3 and that BLOs would visit all 7.66 crore voters in the state.

Senior TMC minister Aroop Biswas accused the Commission of being part of a “larger conspiracy”. 

“The same process took two years in 2002 – why rush it in two months now?” he asked. “This is preplanned and linked to the rollout of Citizenship Amendment Act-NRC verification.”

Sujan Chakraborty of the CPI(M) criticised the CEO’s lack of preparedness and questioned the entire premise of the revision.

“Who gave the Commission the power to determine citizenship? Why was the 2002 voter list used as a base? Local youths can identify fake voters, but the Commission can’t?” Chakraborty asked, challenging the EC’s list of 12 specific documents. 

He cited examples from Jadavpur and Sonarpur Dakshin, where CPI(M)’s internal survey found thousands of dead or voters without address still listed.

CPI(M) has alleged that in Jadavpur alone, out of 347 booths, nearly 50,000 voters were found to be dead or untraceable, yet the booth count remained unchanged.

Earlier this year the Election Commission announced the deletion of 1 lakh names from the Bengal poll rolls. Worried, migrant workers' family members are flocking to various government offices to check whether their names and addresses remain in the rolls.

Azmira Bibi of Lalgola in Murshidabad district told The Wire, “My husband works as a migrant labourer in Kerala. He told me over the phone that they had heard many names might be removed from the voter list, so he asked me to photocopy the old voter list where our names appeared and keep it.”

Translated from the Bengali original and with inputs by Aparna Bhattacharya.

If you know someone – friend or family member – at risk of suicide, please reach out to them. The Suicide Prevention India Foundation maintains a list of telephone numbers they can call to speak in confidence. Icall, a counselling service run by TISS, has maintained a crowdsourced list of therapists across the country. You could also take them to the nearest hospital.

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