Overview
- During a home-voting visit to visually impaired voter Kalu Seikh’s house in Raiganj, a dispute over who could assist him broke out and his 75-year-old wife, Tafijan Bibi, was later declared dead at Raiganj Medical College and Hospital.
- Family members say officials barred them from staying with Seikh during the process, and the daughter alleged the presiding officer cast the vote himself as staff cited a rule that only he could handle the ballot.
- Neighbors and Trinamool Congress supporters detained members of the polling team and raised a road blockade, and the team was later rescued without recording Seikh’s vote.
- TMC candidate Krishna Kalyani blamed the officials for the chaos and demanded action against the micro-observer, while police and central forces moved in to restore order.
- Hospital sources suggested a possible cardiac arrest, and the district election officer said an inquiry is underway with no official finding yet on what caused the death.