- Tension rose in Jalpaiguri after a booth level officer's suspected suicide was reported
- Family claimed the officer faced unbearable stress from election duties and workload pressure
- Police sent the body for post-mortem and launched a probe into the exact cause of death
Tension spread in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district after the body of a woman booth level officer (BLO) was found in the courtyard of her house in a suspected case of death by suicide. The body of Shantimoni Ekka was found on Wednesday morning by her family members.
The family members alleged she had been mentally distressed for some time due to excessive workload.
Continuous field duties, election-related responsibilities, and mounting pressure had become unbearable for her, they said. Her husband and child said this overwhelming stress pushed her to end her life.
The police sent the body for a post-mortem and launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of death. The family's allegation of "work pressure" has sparked discussion in the area.
This development comes at a time when Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti is visiting West Bengal to review the special intensive revision (SIR) progress in the state. The
The ECI team arrived on Tuesday to review SIR exercise in Kolkata North, South and South 24 Parganas districts. Today, the team is visiting Nadia and Murshidabad. The BLOs in Bengal also held a protest on Monday against the workload and tight deadlines to complete the mammoth SIR exercise in their designated booths.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock over the BLO's death.
"Deeply shocked and saddened. Today again, we lost a Booth Level Officer in Mal, Jalpaiguri - 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 said.
"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. I urge the ECI to act with conscience and immediately halt this unplanned drive before more lives are lost," she said.
