Kolkata, April 13 (IANS) Six residents of Arambagh in West Bengal’s Hooghly district have filed a suicide petition with President Droupadi Murmu after their names were removed from the state’s electoral rolls post Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, officials said on Monday.

They filed the petition at the Arambagh Sub-Divisional Magistrate’s office on Monday afternoon.

They visited the Sub-Divisional Magistrate’s office with all the documents attached to submit the petition.

Among the petitioners is a retired high school teacher.

According to administrative officials, all the petitioners are residents of Ward number 6 of Arambagh Municipality.

A total of 206 names of people from that ward have been cancelled after the SIR process.

Among the six petitioners who want to commit suicide, Taibunnesa Begum has served as the headmistress of Goghat Bhagwati Girls’ School for 20 years. She was a government school teacher for a total of 34 years. Her husband is the principal of Arambagh Girls’ College.

Taibunnesa claimed that she has her own pension papers. Despite having all the information including her passport, her name has been cancelled.

Standing outside the Sub-Divisional Administrator’s office on Monday, she said, “We cannot tolerate this harassment at the end of our lives. That is why we have applied for voluntary euthanasia.”

Ward 6 Trinamool Congress Councillor Swapan Nandi also went to the Sub-Divisional Administrator’s office with the six petitioners.

The petitioners claim that despite being born in an independent country, they have now become dependent again.

They fear that this time they will be sent to a detention camp because their names were omitted from the voter’s list.

They have stated in their petition that voluntary death is better than going to a detention camp.

A political war of words has begun over this incident.

The Bharatiya Janata Party claims that the Trinamool Congress is trying to do politics in the garb of gaining votes by creating an atmosphere of fear.

Although the Trinamool Congress denies the allegations, the party claims that it is standing by the common people.

–IANS

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