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The family of a booth level officer (BLO) in Madhya Pradesh’s Jhabua district, who collapsed and died a day after he was suspended for alleged negligence of duties, claimed that he was under immense pressure related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Bhuvan Singh Chauhan was an assistant teacher in Soliya village. His daughter, Sangeeta Chauhan, said her father had intense workload after taking on duties as a BLO. “He was facing issues as there was pressure to survey at least 100 voters daily. On the day he was suspended, he couldn’t bear the pressure. He died on Wednesday,” she said.
Family members said Chauhan neither ate dinner nor slept the night after his suspension on Tuesday. His wife, Mishri Chauhan, described his final hours, saying, “He suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed from the stairs. He was immediately taken to the Community Health Centre in Bori, where doctors declared him dead.”
The order suspending Chauhan said, “All Booth Level Officers were instructed to conduct door-to-door surveys for the intensive revision of the voter roll, with tasks set according to the 1 January 2026 qualifying date. Despite receiving notifications and training for this work, the designated officer, Bhuvansingh Chauhan, for polling station in Soliya, did not attend sessions or perform the required EFS digitisation, leaving progress at only three percent.”
The document further noted, “He has displayed serious negligence and apathy towards an important and time-bound election duty, which is contrary to official responsibilities and falls under the category of serious misconduct.”
“Due to serious negligence and apathy towards election duty, disobedience of senior orders, and government work by the BLO, his act is proved to be a clear violation of Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950,” the order said.
Jhabua sub-divisional magistrate Bhaskar Gachle said the suspension followed a complaint received from the Naib Tehsildar, who reported Chauhan’s alleged repeated absence and failure to perform election duties.
The incident comes amid widespread reports of pressure on teachers tasked with SIR work. On November 11, in a separate case in Datia, a teacher reportedly died by suicide on school grounds, with the family blaming similar SIR-linked stress.
Across districts, authorities have taken action against lagging BLOs — nine have been suspended in Sagar district alone for SIR lapses, alongside issuance of showcause notices to three SDMs and 15 tehsildars over tardy or negligible progress in the survey.
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