An elderly woman from the southern part of the city's Kudghat area died after allegedly setting herself on fire due to panic over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, police said on Tuesday.

The woman, identified as Jamuna Mondal (67), had been living with her family, who claimed that her anxiety intensified as the SIR process began, a senior police officer said.

"Preliminary findings suggested that the deceased did not receive her enumeration form, which contributed to her distress," he said.

This is the twelfth such suicide or suicide attempt in Bengal in the past four days in which the victims’ families have cited SIR and NRC fears as the reason.

Mondal, a long-time resident of Dhalai Bridge and New Putiari Udayachal area in South Kolkata's Ward 114, reportedly set herself on fire in her home, he said.

"She was rushed to MR Bangur Hospital with severe burns, where she later succumbed to her injuries. Her body has been sent for post-mortem examination," he said, adding that police have initiated an investigation into the circumstances of her death.

In recent weeks, similar reports of deaths allegedly linked to anxiety over the SIR process have been reported from several districts, including North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Birbhum, and Nadia.

Political leaders have pointed out that the earlier SIR exercise carried out over two decades ago was not linked to citizenship. No enumeration forms were distributed among the voters. The process was challenged before the Supreme Court after it was announced in Bihar.

The case is pending before the Supreme Court which issued several instructions to the Election Commission like the inclusion of Aadhaar card as document for identity verification.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee led a protest rally against the SIR process in the heart of Calcutta. The chief minister who was handed over her enumeration form at her 30B Harish Chatterjee street residence has refused to fill the form.

“As long as each and every voter of Bengal do not fill their forms, I am not going to submit my form,” Mamata wrote on her official Facebook.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched the SIR exercise in various states, including West Bengal. SIR is a door-to-door verification drive intended to clean up duplicates, remove deceased voters and add new eligible voters.