Suprabuddha Sen, the grandson of celebrated modern artist Nandalal Bose, passed away on Monday morning, days after he was admitted to a hospital in Durgapur with breathing difficulties. He was 88.

Suprabuddha Sen and his wife, 82-year-old Deepa Sen, were excluded from the electoral roll during the Election Commission’s SIR exercise, forcing them to seek relief from the Supreme Court.

Residents of Visva-Bharati in Santiniketan mourned his death. A member of his family, Chakradhar Nayak, said, “His passing is an irreparable loss for us. This void will not be easy to fill.” According to his family, Suprabuddha was admitted to a private hospital in Durgapur on Sunday with breathing difficulties.

He died there on Monday at around 7. 15 am after suffering a cardiac arrest. Anil Konar, secretary of the Santiniketan Trust, said, “He was a gentle person. He had no arrogance. He could easily make everyone feel at ease.” Suprabuddha Sen hit the national headlines after his and his wife’s names were deleted from the electoral roll following the SIR exercise. The couple has been living in their ancestral Santiniketan home since Suprabuddha retired from Damodar Valley Corporation in 1996.

“What will I say? I really do not know why my name was deleted. Only those who deleted my name can give the reason… I was called for the hearing, but given my age, the officers came to my residence, and the hearing was conducted here. I gave my 1954 matriculation certificate from Patha Bhavana at Visva Bharati and my passport. Since my passport had expired, they said it could be accepted. I told them that since a passport was issued, it means the Government of India had done stringent police verification and had found that I am an Indian citizen, so they issued it,” Suprabuddha had told The Indian Express, a day after his petition was heard in the Supreme Court.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Suprabuddha had said that despite the lineage of Nandalal Sen, intimately connected with the constitutional history of the nation, his name was deleted from the electoral rolls.

“This is not invoked as a matter of privilege, but as a reflection of the stark disconnect between constitutional ideals and administrative reality, where even the most undisputed identity, long-standing civic participation, and unimpeachable documentation are rendered inconsequential,” his plea stated. The Supreme Court later ordered him to approach the special tribunals for hearing the SIR deletion case.

Just before the first phase of polling for the West Bengal Assembly elections on April 23 this year, the tribunal had ordered his name to be included in the voters’ list. However, on the day of the voting, booth officials turned him and his wife away. After escalating the issue to the district magistrate and Election Commission officials, the couple was successfully escorted to the booth to cast their votes.

That was the last time he exercised his franchise.

“I do not feel bad that I won’t be able to vote this time, but I just have to take it in stride that the two parties fighting led to the deletion of our names,” he had said after his name was deleted.

Suprabuddha was the son of Jamuna Sen, the youngest daughter of Nandalal Bose, one of the pioneers of Indian art. Nandalal Bose served for many years as the principal of Kala Bhavana. He is celebrated for his role in illustrating the original manuscript of the Indian Constitution and for his iconic linocut of Mahatma Gandhi during the Dandi March.

Moreover, Kshitimohan Sen, the grandfather-in-law of Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, was Suprabuddha’s maternal uncle by marriage.