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New Delhi: In a shocking incident in West Bengal, a Booth Level Officer (BLO) has reportedly died by suicide. Her family found the body in her home's courtyard in Malbazar and has alleged that she took the drastic step due to the pressure of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) work.
The BLO who died by suicide was 48-year-old Shantimoni Ekka. She lived in Rangamati Panchayat and was recently entrusted with SIR duties as a BLO. Allegedly under tremendous pressure, she had been distributing and collecting forms, and trouble had increased since she was allegedly the only BLO for her booth. Mentally drained, she allegedly took the drastic step, and her family found the body in the courtyard. Local police have sent the body for a post-mortem.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took to X and wrote, “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. 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.”
Shantimoni's son, Bishu Ekka, told the media, “She was very disturbed mentally. She had tremendous work pressure, there was work pressure of ICDS (Integrated Child Development Service) and then this BLO duty. There were too many forms, and the forms were in Bengali, and no one was able to help us. I thought she was cooking, but my father told me what had happened.”
Her husband, Soko Ekka, said, “The forms are in Bengali, and this is a Hindi-speaking area. Many do not understand and fill in incorrectly. She was under tremendous pressure; she used to tell me that with the BLO work, she was unable to do any other work. She had also gone to give her resignation also but the officer said that since her name was there, it cannot be cancelled. We thought that she had gone to cook in the morning, but later, we saw her hanging.”
Meanwhile, three BLOs in Kerala, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh respectively died by suicide, as per reports. It is being alleged that they took their own lives due to the enormous workload related to the SIR of electoral rolls. There are also accusations that they were given unreasonable and stiff targets. In Tamil Nadu, complaints are flooding, and the exercise has faced disruptions.
