Two voters of the minority community, placed under adjudication, died in North Dinajpur district in the past 24 hours, their families alleging fear surrounding the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) process of the electoral rolls led to their deaths.

On Monday morning, Abdul Hadi, 49, a farmer of Malkunda under the Goalpokhar police station limits of the district, died of a heart attack.

Residents said that Hadi and some of his family members were included in the “under adjudication” category in the preliminary “final” list published on February 28.

“Despite submitting all necessary documents during the hearing process, their names were put under adjudication. This made him severely stressed and he feared exclusion from the voter list. He was worried that he might be declared a foreigner and deported. He died due to the stress,” said a relative.

Jahangir Alam, 35, an ice cream seller of Jankigach village under Ghirnigaon panchayat in Chopra police station area, also died of a heart attack on Sunday evening. His family claimed that he, along with five other family members, was in the under-adjudication category.

“He was very stressed because of the under-adjudication status. On Sunday evening, he collapsed while selling ice cream and was later declared dead. He has died because of the SIR, and we want compensation from the central government,” Nurbanu Begum, his wife, said.

District Trinamool leaders blamed the Election Commission and the BJP for the deaths. Kanaialal Agarwala, the district president, accused the BJP of instilling fear among the public in the name of the SIR process.

“People will give a befitting reply to the BJP during the Assembly polls,” Agarwala said.

However, the BJP accused Trinamool of “playing politics” over the deaths. Surajit Sen, a district vice-president of the BJP, said: “Whenever there is a death, they (Trinamool leaders) try to link it to the SIR. This strategy won’t work.”