Opinion West Bengal BLO’s suicide takes nationwide toll to 5

With the latest incident, five suicides have been attributed to added responsibilities as BLO:

• Rinku Tarafdar, Kolkata: A purported suicide note blamed the Election Commission, the family said. Recovered by the police, the purported note read: “If I cannot complete the work of BLO, administrative pressure will come. It is not possible for me to take it.”
• Aneesh George, Kerala: No note was found, but his family and friends claimed George, an office attendant at a school, was under pressure to wrap up his job within the stipulated time.
• Shantimoni Ekka, Kolkata: No note was found, but the family claimed she was under pressure and had become mentally distressed due to the added responsibility.
• Mukesh Jangid, Rajasthan: The Bindayaka police station in-charge, Vinod Kumar, said, “A suicide note was recovered stating that he was facing extreme work pressure from his supervisor. The note claims he was threatened with suspension.”
• Arvindkumar Muljibhai Vadhel, Gujarat. A purported suicide note cited stress from the added duties. “For the last several days, I have been exhausted and mentally overburdened… I do not have any other way but to take this last step,” the purported note states.

Further, the families of 11 BLOs who died since the SIR exercise got underway have claimed that the added responsibilities had a role to play. However, poll officials in West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, where the BLOs were working, questioned the link between the deaths and their work.

The one-month enumeration phase for the SIR phase-II, ongoing in nine states and three union territories, has put BLOs in charge of distribution and collection, with a December 4 deadline. Unlike the Bihar exercise, the current phase places the onus on the BLOs to match the elector details on the forms with the old electoral rolls of electors or their parents during the enumeration phase itself.

In Bihar, all those who were not on the 2003 state electoral rolls were required to submit documents proving eligibility along with the enumeration forms. This time, the EC has said no documents are to be taken in this phase, and electors can provide the required details regarding the last intensive revision roll in the form itself. This means BLOs have to physically match the forms with the old electoral rolls for more electors compared to BLOs in Bihar.

‘Struggling for days’

In Nadia, Tarafdar, a para-teacher from Krishnanagar, had recently been assigned BLO responsibilities. She was found dead by her husband at their residence in Sasthitala. While the police are yet to issue a statement, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the SIR process even as the Election Commission sought a report.

According to her family, she had been stressed, especially after BLOs were given responsibility for data entry, as she lacked adequate computer skills – a key requirement for the digital workload involved in the SIR process.

Her family further alleged that she had been struggling for days with the door-to-door visits and continuous calls regarding queries with the enumeration forms, along with the growing weight of administrative demands, tight deadlines, and the fear of punitive action in case of errors.

“In her suicide note, she has blamed the Election Commission. She was unable to upload the form online. She used to worry that she would be blamed for the non-completion of forms,” Rinku’s husband, Asish Tarafdar, told the media.

Her brother-in-law, Abhijit Tarafdar, said she was a part-time teacher and was not used to computers. “Despite that, she was forced into such a huge responsibility. She could not take the pressure, and this is the result. She would tell us that the pressure was immense. She was mentally disturbed for the past few days due to this,” he said.

In a post on X, the West Bengal CM posted: “Profoundly shocked to know of the death of yet another BLO, a lady para-teacher, who has committed suicide at Krishnanagar today.”

“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 wrote.

The incident occurred two days after Banerjee wrote to the chief election commissioner. In her letter, she accused the Election Commission of rushing the voter list revision exercise and urged its immediate suspension.

The EC has sought an urgent report from the district magistrate (DM) on the incident. “Why was Rinku Tarafdar mentally distraught? What had happened? After the report arrives, the next course of action will be decided,” a senior EC official said.

Earlier this week, another BLO in the state allegedly died by suicide due to work pressure. On November 9, a BLO died of a stroke. According to sources in the CM’s office, cheques of Rs 2 lakh each have been sent to the family members of both the deceased.

‘Feared suspension’

In Madhya Pradesh, officials confirmed the death of BLOs in Raisen and Damoh districts.

In Raisen, Ramakant Pandey, a teacher from Satlapur working as a BLO for the Mandideep area, died late Friday night after reportedly collapsing following an online review meeting.

“He died of a heart attack, but we are awaiting the post-mortem report to shed more light on his death,” sub-divisional officer and Electoral Registration Officer Chandrashekhar Shrivastava told The Indian Express. “The officer did not suffer from any pressure; I personally knew him. He used to be in high spirits most of the time.”

Pandey’s family, however, claimed he had been under mental and physical strain from enumeration duties. His wife, Rekha, alleged he had not slept for several nights and feared suspension if the voter list targets remained incomplete.

“He joined an online meeting around 9.30 pm on Thursday and collapsed soon after going to the bathroom,” she said.

In Damoh, BLO Sitaram Gond (50), assigned to Ranjra village, fell ill while filling out the enumeration forms. He was first treated at the Damoh district hospital and then referred to Jabalpur for advanced care, where he died during treatment late Friday.

His friend, Hari Singh, said, “He suddenly fell ill in the morning… we don’t know why this happened.”

‘Complained of chest pain’

In Gujarat, BLO Kalpanaben Patel died on Thursday night. A resident of Madhi village in Surat, she had been working as a principal at a government primary school in Beldha village for the past few years. She had been tasked with covering 300 voters in the village, sources said.

Tapi district collector, Vipin Garg, told The Indian Express, “She (Patel) was working as an Assistant BLO… she returned home on Thursday when she complained of chest pain… she was declared dead when taken to a hospital in Bardoli.”

Kalpanaben’s family claimed several teachers were facing problems with their BLO assignments, such as late hours and travelling long distances from their homes.

Narsinghbhai Chaudhary, the BLO to whom Kalpanaben reported, told The Indian Express, “She was doing good work… There are 300 voters in Beldha; she had to visit their homes, fill in the necessary details, and upload the forms on the mobile application. She had been assigned work for the past five to six days… and had completed 80% of it.”

“Beldha village had been classified as a green zone (indicating positive progress). We are also saddened to hear of the incident. Another teacher will have to be assigned to carry out her pending work,” Chaudhary said.