In a bizarre incident that highlights serious administrative lapses, a sitting councillor from West Bengal's Dankuni Municipality was declared dead by the Election Commission of India. Surya De, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) representative from ward 18, was left in a state of shock and anger upon discovering his name on the list of deceased individuals published by the poll body.
From Shock to Funeral Protest
The incident unfolded on Tuesday after the Election Commission published its routine list of deceased and relocated voters based on polling booths. De, a long-time resident of the Chanditala assembly constituency, initially dismissed calls from his aides informing him of the mistake as a bad joke. However, upon verifying the list himself, he was stunned to find his name marked among the dead.
"A few of my aides called me and said that my name is featured as dead. At first, I did not believe it and thought that they were joking. Then I checked it myself and was shocked," De recounted. Despite having filled out and submitted the enumeration form to the Booth Level Officer (BLO), he found himself erroneously listed.
March to the Crematorium
Feeling insulted and suspecting foul play, the councillor's shock quickly turned to public outrage. In a dramatic mark of protest, De, accompanied by his supporters, marched to the Kalipur crematorium. He announced that he had arrived for his own last rites and demanded that the Election Commission officials perform them since they had declared a living man dead.
Speaking at the Chanditala Block Development Office (BDO) before his march, De expressed his fury. "I have walked to the Kalipur crematorium for my own funeral. I am a public representative, yet I have been shown as deceased," he stated. He went further, alleging a conspiracy, "If a public representative, who is alive, can be declared dead like this by the joint effort of the Election Commission and BJP, then one can imagine what they can do in the case of ordinary people."
Demands for Accountability and Rectification
De pointed out a critical discrepancy, noting that his name was not on the deceased list held by the Booth Level Agents (BLAs), raising questions about the process. He squarely blamed Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for the error and issued a sarcastic challenge, "I ask the chief election commissioner to come and burn me at the crematorium." The councillor warned that if the issue was not resolved locally, he and his supporters would escalate their protest by traveling to Delhi to demonstrate in front of the Election Commission's headquarters.
On a practical note, De confirmed he had already spoken to the BDO to initiate the correction of this grave mistake. However, he highlighted that this was not an isolated case in his ward. "Till now, the names of my family members are there, but there are a few cases that are being reported in the ward where names of people have been deleted," he said, adding that he would convene a meeting with his colleagues to address the wider issue of voter list irregularities.
This incident has cast a spotlight on the accuracy and reliability of the electoral roll revision process, raising concerns about the potential disenfranchisement of voters due to such erroneous declarations.
