SIR exercise: 2 more BLO deaths in Gujarat, Bengal; TMC says CEC has ‘blood on his hands'

Two primary school teachers deployed as booth-level officers in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls died of cardiac arrest in West Bengal’s Murshidabad and Gujarat’s Mehsana, sparking accusations of tremendous work pressure on them.

With West Bengal reporting the fourth (booth-level officer) BLO death since the exercise began in the state on November 4, a Trinamool Congress delegation on Friday met the full bench of the Election Commission in Delhi and accused the poll panel chief of having “blood on his hands”.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also made a fresh attack on EC over SIR, claiming it was a “big conspiracy” against the people of the country that could push citizens into a state “worse than the colonial era”.

SIR is currently underway in 12 states and Union Territories.

In Mehsana, Dinesh Raval (50), who was a teacher in a government primary school in Sudasana village, died of heart attack at his home in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, Satlasana police station sub-inspector Udaysinh Zala said.

While the opposition Congress and teachers’ union linked the BLO’s death to excessive work pressure and lack of facilities, police denied the allegations.

Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi alleged BLOs are under immense pressure to finish the assigned work in time. President of Gujarat State Primary Teacher Association, Digvijaysinh Jadeja, claimed he came to know from other teachers that Raval was under pressure due to BLO related work.

In West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, Zakir Hossain, a teacher at a state-run primary school who was deployed as a BLO, collapsed on Thursday afternoon after complaining of severe chest pain and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died later that night, family members said.

Relatives claimed Hossain had been under “tremendous pressure” juggling SIR duties and regular teaching work.

The strain increased, they alleged, because the primary school authorities refused to relieve him despite repeated requests, forcing him to manage both responsibilities simultaneously.

Trinamool Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, have accused the EC of burdening BLOs with an “inhumane” and “unplanned” workload.

BJP, however, rejected the allegation, contending that the stress felt by BLOs stemmed not from EC’s directives but from political and administrative pressure exerted by the ruling TMC.

During the day, the 10-member TMC delegation, led by Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien, met the EC officials. The delegation also consisted of Lok Sabha MPs Mahua Moitra, Satabdi Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Pratima Mondal, Sajda Ahmed, and Rajya Sabha MPs Dola Sen, Mamata Thakur, Saket Gokhale, and Prakash Chik Barik.

Following their meeting, O’Brien addressed reporters, saying the party raised five questions, but Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar did not respond to any of them.

“We started the meeting by stating that the CEC has blood on his hands. We raised five questions. After this, Kalyan Banerjee, Mahua Moitra, and Mamata Thakur spoke and shared whatever they had to in about 40 minutes,” O’Brien said.

“Then the CEC spoke uninterrupted for one hour. We were also not interrupted while we spoke, but we did not receive any answer to any of our five questions,” he added.

Moitra said the delegation shared with CEC a list of 40 persons whose deaths, they alleged, were linked to the SIR exercise. The commission, however, dismissed it as mere allegations, the Lok Sabha MP claimed.

Posting a 20-second video on the SIR process on his official X handle on Thursday evening, SP chief Yadav appealed to all opposition parties, including allies of the ruling NDA, to “unite and expose this mega-conspiracy of BJP”.

Attacking the roll revision exercise, he charged, “This is fraud with democracy. People must stay alert. Today, votes are being cut, tomorrow names will be removed from land records, ration cards, caste certificates, reservations, and later even from bank accounts and lockers of the middle-class.”

In a detailed post, the SP chief said, “This is a major conspiracy against the people of this country, which will lead to a situation far worse than the colonial era. This is the time to wake up and protect every single vote.”

BJP state spokesperson Harishchandra Srivastava hit back at Yadav, saying that the SP chief is making a malicious attempt to spread fear and confusion among the public through his post.

Meanwhile, EC said Lakshadweep has become the first Union Territory in the country to complete 100 per cent distribution and digitisation of SIR enumeration forms.