Two deaths allegedly linked to the anxiety surrounding the special intensive revision (SIR) of poll rolls were reported from Malda district in the last 24 hours, prompting a slugfest between the Trinamool and the BJP.

Abul Kalam, 48, was found hanging from a mango tree at Baluvorot village under Kushida panchayat of Harishchandrapur-I block on Saturday.

Family members and panchayat representative, Inteja Khatun, alleged that Kalam was under severe mental stress over fear of being struck off the electoral rolls and possibly deported.

According to Khatun, Kalam worked in Jaipur, Rajasthan, since teenage and did not possess voter or Aadhaar cards.

Orphaned young, his parents' names did not appear in the 2002 poll rolls. Recently, Kalam returned to his native village and was living with his brother’s family.

“He heard from people that failure to submit the SIR enumeration form could lead to deportation. We believe he could not bear the fear,” Khatun said.

Monirul Islam, the booth-level officer (BLO) of booth 11 under the Harishchandrapur Assembly seat, confirmed Kalam had neither voter nor Aadhaar cards.

Rabiul Islam, a member of the Malda zilla parishad, said the EC had to take responsibility. “The death of an innocent citizen raises serious questions about the SIR’s implementation,” he said.

Ar Kaliachak-III block, Barkat Sheikh, 31, a Trinamool booth-level agent (BLA), died of cardiac failure on Friday evening.

Prasenjit Das, the Malda district president of Trinamool’s youth wing, said Sheikh had been suffering from anxiety as his father’s name had been wrongly recorded in the 2002 rolls.

“Barkat feared his name might be removed as a voter of booth 101 of the Baishnabnagar Assembly seat,” Das said.

According to Das, Sheikh was tense and tried to rectify the error at various levels but could not. “He shared his concern with us. On Friday evening, on his way back from the block administrative office, he had a heart attack. The uncertainty created by the SIR process led to his death,” Das alleged.

Post-mortems of the bodies were done at Malda Medical College and Hospital.

On Saturday, Das supervised Sheikh’s burial following instructions from Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Abhishek condoled Sheikh’s death on X. “The mental pressure caused by the unplanned SIR process ultimately led to his death. I am deeply saddened by his demise,” he wrote.

Local Trinamool leaders blamed the EC and the BJP for these deaths.

Malda BJP leader Ajoy Ganguly said they wanted a CBI probe into all these incidents as it would prove that Trinamool’s claims are incorrect and baseless.