SIR Voters List News Live Updates: ‘NRC real intent behind SIR of electoral rolls’, claims West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

A 35-year-old assistant teacher deployed as a Booth Level Officer (BLO) for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of electoral rolls died in Gonda on Tuesday, police said, adding prima facie, it was a case of poisoning.

In a video circulated widely on social media, a man identified as Vipin Kumar Yadav is seen lying on a hospital bed and purportedly heard saying that he had been under pressure from the SDM, BDO, tehsildar, and other officials.

Additional District Magistrate Alok Kumar said an inquiry panel comprising the Chief Revenue Officer and the Assistant Superintendent of Police has been directed to examine the incident from all angles and submit a report at the earliest.

Read the full story here.

The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in nine states and three Union Territories is unfolding differently from the earlier exercise in Bihar. It’s this shift, a procedural one, that’s at the heart of what’s visible on the ground – with reports of alleged stress-related deaths and suicides among Booth Level Officers (BLOs).

In Bihar, anyone not found on the 2003 intensive revision roll had to submit during enumeration one of 11 documents mandated by the Election Commission. The EC altered the process for the rest of the country.

The new form asks electors to provide details of themselves or any adult relative in the last intensive revision roll of their state, but BLOs have been instructed not to collect documents at this stage. Instead, they must physically search the last intensive revision rolls (from any state or UT) to trace electors or their relatives and write the corresponding serial number on the form.

Here's what has changed.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP leader alleged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to be supporting Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators across the country, news agency PTI reported.

"Mamata Banerjee has from the beginning supported Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators across the country. The Bengal government is running on the support of these infiltrators, and she does everything that spreads hatred and goes against the Constitution and is anti-Hindu," Singh told PTI.

With the stress being faced by the booth-level officers (BLOs) deployed on duty for the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in Gujarat over the last month, a 26-year-old Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) employee – working as a BLO in Surat city – was found dead in her apartment’s bathroom on Monday.

Another teacher serving as a BLO in Gir Somnath’s Kodinar purportedly died by suicide, allegedly citing stress from the SIR work in a note.

Two women assistant BLOs also died of heart attack in Gujarat last week, taking the total number of deaths of BLOs in the state to four in a week. These deaths have prompted the INDIA bloc to call for an immediate halt on the process.

Welcome to our live blog. Follow here to receive the latest updates on the ongoing SIR in Bengal, Gujarat, and other states!