Tension over 85-year-old hubby’s home-vote ‘leads to’ wife’s death

Malda: The death of a 77-year-old woman led to an unrest in a Raiganj village on Monday. It all started when electoral officers, out to collect elderly citizens' votes, visited the house of 85-year-old Kalu Sheikh in Viti Katihar village.A 77-year-old woman, Tafijan Bibi, died after collapsing during a confrontation over home voting in Raiganj on Monday.As the Election Commission team including a returning officer, a BLO, security personnel and central forces, reached the home of Sheikh, his family demanded that his daughter Jahida, a person with disabilities, be allowed to stay in the room, especially because Sheikh was blind. When the EC team allegedly refused, an argument started which soon heated up as villagers and TMC workers gathered at the site.Amid the tension, Kalu's wife Tafijan suddenly fell ill and collapsed. She was taken to Raiganj Medical College, where doctors declared her dead. Doctors suspect she had suffered a cardiac arrest.Jahida and a relative Dulali Khatun alleged the voting was carried out in an atmosphere of coercion and panic, and claimed that Sheikh's vote had been taken by force, which led to Tafijan's cardiac arrest.As news of Tafijan's death reached the village, angry residents briefly confined the election officials, demanding justice.While district election officer Vivek Kumar said there had been a misunderstanding, TMC candidate Krishna Kalyani said: "The inhuman EC has not only deprived one person of their vote but has also taken the life of another voter."
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