Arambag residents seek euthanasia due to fear after voter list deletions

Kolkata: In a dramatic and unprecedented protest linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, six residents of Arambag in Hooghly district on Monday submitted a plea for euthanasia addressed to the President of India, claiming they were living under the terror of being sent to a “detention camp” after their names were struck off the voter list.

The six, all residents of Ward Number 6 under the Arambag municipality, arrived at the Subdivisional Officer’s (SDO) office in the afternoon with photocopies of all their identity documents pasted across their bodies. They claimed they were “sons of the soil” and lifelong residents of the country, but the removal of their names had left them fearing loss of identity, shelter and citizenship rights.

Administrative sources said as many as 206 voters from the same ward had been deleted during the SIR process.

“We were born and brought up in this country. But after our names were removed from the voter list, it feels as if we have become subjugated all over again,” one of the petitioners said.

“Rather than being forced to live like animals in a detention camp, death would be preferable. We appeal to the President to permit us to die,” another petitioner stated.

According to the latest poll data, a total of 90.83 lakh names have been deleted from the electoral rolls through different phases of the revision, including deletions from the draft roll and subsequent adjudication. Of the nearly 60 lakh voters placed under adjudication, more than 27 lakh have been removed, deepening anxiety among affected residents across the state.

This incident has sparked a political tug-of-war. The Trinamool Congress has directly held the BJP and the Election Commission responsible for the occurrence.

They allege that the spectre of the NRC and detention camps has been deliberately instilled in the minds of the common people. The BJP has retorted, claiming that the Trinamool is intentionally fostering an atmosphere of fear among the public.