- A BLO in Bengal's South 24 Parganas was hospitalised during SIR work
- This comes after a BLO's suicide in Bengal, allegedly due to SIR-related stress
- Mamata Banerjee urged Election Commission to halt SIR, citing excessive workload on BLOs
Amid the face-off between West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee government and the Election Commission over the suicides of two Booth Level Officers (BLO) during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a BLO was hospitalised in South 24 Parganas. Family members of the BDO, Kamal Naskar, have claimed that he felt unwell due to stress. Doctors have not yet made a public statement on his health condition.
Naskar, headmaster of a primary school and BLO at Joynagar in Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, said he had been going door to door for the SIR exercise in the poll-bound state. "I got the forms on November 13 and distributed them. Now it was time to collect the filled-out forms from the voters. I was asked to finish the job by the 26th. I have fallen ill due to the tension that I may miss the deadline."
His family members say Naskar attended a meeting of BLOs yesterday, during which they were told to collect the application forms and submit them by November 26. Naskar started feeling unwell right after he came home, his family members said. He was rushed to a private nursing home. The Block Development Officer and the local Trinamool MLA met him at the nursing home. Bishwanath Das, the local MLA, blamed "huge workload on BLOs".
This comes a day after a BLO in Bengal's Nadia district was found hanging at her home. Rinku Tarafdar's family has said she was under tremendous stress due to the SIR work and died by suicide.
"I wanted to live. My family lacks nothing. But, for this modest job, they pushed me to such humiliation that I was left with no choice but to die. The Election Commission is responsible for this," stated a note found at 52-year-old Tarafdar's home. "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," it added.
Chief Minister Banerjee shared the note on X. "How many more lives will be lost? How many more need to die for this SIR? How many more dead bodies shall we see for this process? This has become truly alarming now!!"
Senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha trashed Banerjee's claims. "This is absolutely meaningless. If the TMC leaders are brave enough, they should demand a CBI investigation into the death of the BLO. I can challenge that the suicide note is fake," he told news agency PTI.
Banerjee, who is gearing up for Assembly polls next year, wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar last week and urged him to halt the SIR exercise. "BLOs are now operating far beyond human limits. What is particularly unacceptable is the response from the Election Commission at this juncture! Instead of offering support, extending timelines, or addressing systemic flaws, the office of CEO West Bengal has resorted to intimidation," she wrote.
"I would request you to kindly intervene decisively to halt the ongoing exercise, stop coercive measures, provide proper training and support, and thoroughly reassess the present methodology and timelines," she added.
Sources in the Election Commission have said the BLOs have been provided comprehensive training by the ECI centre as well as the Chief Election Officer's (CEO) office. "BLOs have been provided comprehensive training at the ECI's training centre in Delhi, and other BLOs have been trained by the CEO's office. We are carefully examining the Chief Minister's letter, and a detailed reply will be issued in due course," a source said. "If necessary, the Commission is prepared to deploy additional officers to support the BLOs, as was successfully done in Bihar by involving Jeevika Didis or volunteers."
Earlier, reports have said many teachers tasked with BLO duties have complained to the Election Commission and alleged that several state-run schools in Bengal were not excusing them from regular teaching duties so that they can work for the SIR.
"The ECI is viewing the complaints against the school authorities quite seriously and will shortly communicate with the state government to direct them to excuse the teachers from their regular assignments to perform BLO duties," news agency IANS has quoted sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer as saying.
