‘Can no longer handle the pressure’: Bengal BLO, a headmaster, ends life amid SIR work

“I can no longer handle the pressure. Bidding farewell. I alone am responsible for this. No one else is. The mistake is mine,” the purported note read.

Mandal also mentioned in the note that he did not allow his son to assist with any of the tasks and performed all the work by himself. “I did not trust anyone. Despite getting everything right, I still made a mistake. Forgive me,” he added in the note.

The distribution and collection process of enumeration forms has been completed in the state.

Currently, the second phase of the SIR is underway, which involves the hearing process. The Election Commission is issuing notices to “unapped” voters, summoning them for hearings to verify their information. Sunday was the second day of the hearings.

The deceased’s family claimed that he was suffering from severe depression due to his inability to cope with the “immense workload of the SIR”.

“My father was suffering from various physical ailments. Despite that, he used to work on the SIR until 3 or 4 am. On top of that, there were various other forms causing mental pressure. He could no longer bear this mental strain and committed suicide,” said Soham Mandal, the deceased’s son.

Mala Mandal, Haradhan Mandal’s wife, said, “Due to his illness, my husband used to finish his dinner and go to bed by 9 pm. But because of the SIR work, he had to stay awake throughout the night. He tried his best to ensure there were no errors in his work. But he received no help from anyone. He was forced to take this step.”

Trinamool Congress general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee wrote on X on Sunday, “The death toll keeps mounting. Another BLO appointed and engaged by the @ECISVEEP has taken his own life under the inhuman pressure of a HURRIED, CHAOTIC and POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED SIR process. Shri Haradhan Mondal of 249 Ranibandh AC, Part No. 206, died by suicide. In his suicide note, he explicitly held inhuman nature of the task responsible for his decision. Over 50 lives have already been lost to panic, anxiety, exhaustion and fear engineered by a voter-cleansing operation designed for BJP’s electoral gain. What should have been a methodical process has instead been bulldozed through by a pliant, complicit Election Commission, bending its spine to serve the political arithmetic of ONE PARTY and the ego of ONE MAN. And as for the BJP, if people drop dead from fatigue, despair or terror, it is an acceptable collateral cost, a convenient footnote in their power play. History is watching. Bengal will not forgive and Bengal will not forget.”

Rejecting the allegations, BJP’s West Bengal observer Mangal Pandey said, “The SIR work has been conducted in Bihar as well. There, the BLOs worked transparently and comfortably following the Election Commission’s directives. But here, the Chief Minister has been opposing the SIR from the very beginning. Consequently, the local administration and the TMC leadership are constantly pressuring the BLOs to do their work incorrectly. This pressure has led to several tragic incidents. The state government and the Trinamool party must take full responsibility for this.”