A booth level officer (BLO) engaged by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral roll in West Bengal died by suicide on Wednesday morning in the Mal area of Jalpaiguri district with her family claiming that she could not handle work pressure.
The member of a tribal community was the second BLO who died during the SIR in the poll-bound state.
A BLO at the Memari community block in East Burdwan district died of a cerebral attack on November 9. Her husband, alleged that she was under stress.
Condoling the death, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee targeted the poll body after Wednesday’s incident.
“Today again, we lost a Booth Level Officer in Mal, Jalpaiguri, a tribal lady, an anganwadi worker who took her own life under the unbearable pressure of the ongoing SIR work. 28 people have already lost their lives since SIR began — some due to fear and uncertainty, others due to stress and overload,” Banerjee wrote on X.
Also Read:BLO ends life in Kerala; SIR-related job stress blamed
The CM also pointed out the hurried manner in which the SIR was being forced.
“Such precious lives are being lost because of the unplanned, relentless workload imposed by the so-called Election Commission of India. A process that earlier took 3 years is now being forced into 2 months on the eve of elections to please political masters, putting inhuman pressure on BLOs,” Banerjee added.
The body of the BLO, who worked at a local Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) centre for children, was found in her courtyard.
Bulu Chik Baraik, Bengal’s backward classes welfare minister, said she might have taken the extreme step due to work pressure.
“We suspect that she took her life under work pressure. These people speak Hindi but most of the local residents speak Bengali. She was having problems,” the minister said.
The BLO’s husband alleged that his wife had informed her seniors about the work pressure but nothing happened.
“She told senior officers several times that she was not able to handle the job but they said she must continue. She wanted to resign but they didn’t let her”, he said.
The woman’s son also echoed similar sentiments saying, “My mother had to work at the ICDS centre as well. She could not handle both jobs.”
The ECI has said that the first draft electoral roll will be published on December 9. Assembly polls in Bengal are expected to be held around March-April 2026.
With a population of around 93 million, West Bengal has around 76 million voters. There are around 80,681 polling booths and an equal number of BLOs.
The office of the state chief electoral officer (CEO) did not comment on the BLO’s death till 2pm. The copy will be updated whenever it is received.
Rakesh Nandy, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) community block unit leader at Mal called the death unfortunate.
“The death is unfortunate but the police must find out the real reason”, he said.
Minister Baraik said a case was registered by the Mal police station.
A BLO in Kerala and Rajasthan had died by suicide earlier this week with their families alleging election work pressure as the reason for they taking their lives.
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