Pestered, aged voter dies in queue - Family blames Trinamul quartet for forcing ailing septuagenarian to step out

AVIJIT SINHA AND BIRESWAR BANERJEE, TT, Siliguri, July 25: A partially paralysed septuagenarian rickshaw-puller who was pestered by alleged Trinamul activists and taken to a polling booth this afternoon fell ill while in the queue and died of a suspected cardiac arrest.

Seventy-five-year-old Mahendra Burman’s wife and daughter blamed a Trinamul quartet for the death.

When party activists were asked why an elderly, ailing man was pushed to go out and vote, an account of Trinamul desperation in the face of factional feud tumbled out.

(Above) An unconscious Mahendra Burman being carried away from the polling booth at Jaleswari, 7km from Siliguri town, on Thursday; (top) Mahendra’s wife Malati and elder daughter Bulbuli at the Siliguri district hospital. Pictures by Kundan Yolmo

Trinamul supporters said the party had fielded an outsider for this Jalpaiguri zilla parishad seat. Angered at this, local Trinamul activists fielded two among them as Independents. The Jaleswari seat has around 2,000 voters, which meant every vote would count for the candidates, Trinamul or rebel.

Mahendra’s wife Malati said the Trinamul four — three women and an unidentified man — kept pestering her husband for 20 minutes to vote, saying it was important for the win.

“My husband used to work as a rickshaw-puller and also a day labourer. Over the past three-four years, he had grown weak after the left side of his body got paralysed following a heart attack. Of late, he was staying at home and was too ill to come out,” said Malati, who earns a living as a construction worker.

Mahendra used to stay indoors, she said.

The couple have two daughters, Bulbuli who is married and Poli who is in school.

“Today, I went to the booth in Thakurnagar and gave my vote. Around 11.30am, three women and a man, all Trinamul workers, came to our hut,” Malati said.

“They asked my husband to go with them and vote. My husband said he is ill and paralytic and refused to go to the booth,” she added.

According to Malati and Bulbuli, the quartet kept insisting and after 20 minutes Mahendra went out with them.

“He was not willing to go, particularly because of the heat but had to listen to them as they went on insisting. He finally went,” Malati said.

Mahendra fell ill while standing in the queue. Sources said he was a voter of the 178/1 booth in Dabgram-II panchayat area of Rajganj block in Jalpaiguri district, a place close to Siliguri town.

“I was apprehensive that his health may deteriorate and so I left for the booth after some time. When I reached there, I came to know that my husband had fallen ill and has been provided a chair inside the booth. I went and gave him water. He was shivering and soon convulsed and became still,” Malati said.

Seeing that Mahendra has become unconscious, Trinamul workers persuaded a police patrolling team nearby to take him to Siliguri district hospital, about 5km from the booth. Malati accompanied him.

Bulbuli also reached the hospital.

“He was rushed to the emergency but a doctor examined him and declared him dead,” Malati said.

A doctor said: “It seems that he has died of cardiac arrest. However, the cause of death can be confirmed only after the post-mortem.”

Sitting in the hospital, Malati blamed the Trinamul workers. “He had repeatedly refused to go out with them. I had also asked them to leave him alone. They, however, took him to the booth almost forcibly and it led to his death,” she said.

The three women, who had gone to Mahendra’s house were identified by the family as Laxmirani Mondal, Basanti Das and Gita Roy.

“All are Trinamul workers,” Bulbuli said.

Subhash Roy, a local Trinamul worker of Jaleswari, said: “We have over 2,000 voters in the Jalpaiguri zilla parishad seat in Dabram II block and adjoining areas. When the Trinamul candidate was selected, he was not a local like us but an outsider, a resident of Buniadpur in South Dinajpur district.”

Roy said this prompted “us to field two Independent candidates, as several workers like us, who have worked for the party over years, were disappointed with the selection. As two Independent candidates were fielded, party leaders and workers backing the outsider turned desperate to garner every possible vote to secure a win of the official candidate.”

The Jalpaiguri zilla parishad was held by the Left, which had 32 of the 34 seats. The Congress held the other two.

Roy later called up the block development officer of Rajganj and informed him of Mahendra’s death. No police complaint has been filed yet.

Minister Gautam Deb, in whose Assembly constituency Jaleswari falls, said the incident was “unfortunate”. “The person was already ill and died in the booth. Regarding the allegation against some of our workers, we will surely check if it is correct,” he said,