Two booth-level officers die in MP, one ends life in W Bengal

As many as three booth-level officers died in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal amid the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in various states and UTs.

A woman working as a booth-level officer (BLO) in West Bengal’s Nadia district was found hanging at her residence on Saturday. Her family members claimed that she was under considerable SIR work-related stress and died by suicide, the police said.

“I cannot bear this inhuman workload. I am a part-time teacher, and my salary is very low compared to my effort, yet they will not relieve me. I had completed 95 per cent of the offline work, but I was unable to manage the online tasks. Despite informing the BDO office and my supervisor, no action was taken,” read her purported suicide note.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock over the BLO’s death. The Trinamool Congress further claimed that 34 persons, including BLOs, had died during the ongoing SIR exercise which began in the state on November 4, and demanded that the poll panel take responsibility for these deaths.

“Profoundly shocked to know about the death of yet another BLO, a lady para-teacher, who died by suicide at Krishnanagar today. Rinku Tarafdar blamed the EC in her suicide note, (copy of which is attached herewith) before ending her life at her residence today,” Banerjee said in a post on X.

Senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha, however, claimed that the suicide note was a fake.

Meanwhile, two teachers-cum-BLOs tasked with conducting voter list survey for the SIR died due to ‘illness’ in Raisen and Damoh districts of Madhya Pradesh on Friday, the officials said.

Relatives and friends of the deceased blamed heavy workload and pressure to meet enumeration targets as the reasons for the deaths.

One of the deceased’s family members said he was posted at the primary school in Tilakhedi and assigned voter list duties. They claimed he struggled with a heavy workload, which forced him to put in extra hours every night to finish assignments. He feared suspension if targets were unmet and had not slept for the past four nights, claimed his wife.

In case of the other booth-level officer, his kin claimed that he was supposed to cover 1,319 voters, but could complete only 13 per cent of the work, and was thus under pressure.

Separately, a a booth-level officer has been missing for the past six days in the Raisen district, and efforts are underway to trace him, the officials said.