Kolkata, Jan 7 (IANS) A 63-year-old woman died while attending a hearing, held under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, at Naihati in North 24 Parganas district, the police said on Wednesday.

The deceased was identified as Ratna Chakraborty.

According to her family, the woman had gone to the Barrackpore No. 1 BDO office on Tuesday for the hearing, where she suffered a heart attack.

Upon experiencing chest pain, she was immediately rushed to Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Nadia district’s Kalyani, where she passed away.

Her family alleged that the elderly woman died due to the anxiety caused by being summoned for the SIR hearing.

Following the death, the police were also informed. However, no complaint has been lodged against anyone after the incident.

It has been learned that the elderly woman, Ratna Chakraborty, lived in the Nanna area of ​​Jetia, which falls under the Naihati Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district.

Besides her son and daughter-in-law, she also has a granddaughter in her family. After her husband’s death, Ratna received a railway job on compassionate grounds.

She retired from that job about three years ago. Recently, during the hearing phase of SIR, the elderly woman received a hearing notice from the Election Commission of India.

According to family sources, the notice clearly stated that since there was no information about her in the 2002 voter list, when the last SIR was held, she would have to appear at the hearing centre.

The elderly woman had been asked to bring sufficient documents to the hearing. Accordingly, Ratna appeared for the hearing at the BDO office. Her family members accompanied her.

The family claimed that she started feeling unwell shortly after arriving there. Although she was taken to the hospital, the elderly woman could not be saved as doctors declared her brought dead.

Abhijit Chakraborty, a relative of the deceased woman, told local reporters, “Even though the elderly woman’s name was not on the revised voter list of 2002, she had submitted the necessary documents to the commission.

“Despite this, the Election Commission sent a hearing notice to her home. Not only that, but her ailing son was also served with an SIR notice. Although the son could not attend the hearing on Tuesday, the elderly woman, following the rules, appeared at the hearing centre. This incident happened there. The fear of the SIR process is responsible for this,” they said.

Meanwhile, following the incident, Trinamool Congress Barrackpore MP Partha Bhowmick, Naihati Trinamool MLA Sanat Dey and others visited the hospital to offer their condolences to the deceased’s family. The Trinamool leadership assured the deceased’s family of their support.

–IANS

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