KOLKATA: A para teacher working as a booth-level officer (BLO) in West Bengal’s Nadia district died by suicide on Saturday, allegedly due to work pressure linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral roll.
The deceased, a 53-year-old woman, was a para teacher at a school in Nadia’s Chapra, left behind a note that blamed the Election Commission of India (ECI) for her death, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said in a post on X.
Banerjee also shared the two-page note written in Bengali on social media.
“Profoundly shocked to know of the death of yet another BLO, a lady para- teacher, who has committed suicide at Krishnanagar today. BLO of part number 201 of AC 82 Chapra, has blamed ECI in her suicide note before committing suicide at her residence today,” the chief minister said.
“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!!” she said.
This is the second suicide by a BLO over the past week in the state and comes days after Banerjee on Thursday asked chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to halt the exercise, alleging that continuing the “unplanned and coercive drive” would endanger more lives and jeopardise the legitimacy of the exercise.
On Wednesday, an anganwadi worker engaged as a BLO died by suicide in Jalpaiguri district. Her family linked the death to the increased work pressure due to SIR.
“I want 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 note said, holding ECI responsible for her fate.
“I don’t support any political party. I am a very simple person. But I cannot bear this inhuman pressure,” the note said.
“I had completed 95% of the offline task. But I don’t know anything about the online task,” it added.
A senior official at the chief electoral officer’s (CEO) office said that the Nadia district magistrate, who is also the district electoral officer, has been told to submit a report on the BLO’s death.
A Trinamool Congress team also called on CEO Manoj Agarwal in this connection and claimed that at least 34 people had already died by suicide in the state due to SIR.
“At least 34 people have died by suicide so far because of the negligence of the ECI. The poll panel has to take the entire responsibility,” state minister Arup Biswas told reporters.
TMC also complained that the app used by BLO frequently got stuck and the BLOs lacked the necessary training.
West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya told reporters that the BLO’s death was a matter of investigation.
“This is subject to investigation. At present, even if a person dies of snakebite in West Bengal, the ECI and SIR would be held responsible. The same thing happened during demonetisation. SIR has been rolled out simultaneously in 12 states and UTs. Why are there no such deaths in other states? By alleging that 20 million names are likely to be dropped, the TMC has made it clear that there are at least 20 million voters who are under scanner,” he said.
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