Kolkata: A Booth Level Officer (BLO) in South 24 Parganas district involved in Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has been hospitalised for a brain stroke, an official said on Sunday.
Mehboob Rehman Mollah, BLO of Mathurapur block in Raidighi area of the district, complained of physical discomfort on Saturday night and was referred to a city hospital after being initially taken to Diamond Harbour Hospital, the official said.
The Trinamool Congress on Sunday alleged that Mollah fell sick due to constant work pressure and blamed the Election Commission and BJP government at the Centre for the “unbearable stress the BLO had to withstand”.
Mollah was busy with the SIR exercise since November 4 at booth number 110 of Mathurapur number two block, working for over 20 hours to cope with SIR pressure and school job, and the stress increased after several voters in the booth got hearing notice, his family members claimed.
The TMC in a post on X said, “BJP4India’s and its obedient Election Commission’s soulless, blood-soaked SIR has crossed every limit”.
“In Raidighi, South 24 Parganas, Mahbub Rahman Mollah, a 52-year-old school teacher, a Booth Level Officer, a man who spent his life educating children, collapsed under unbearable SIR pressure and suffered a brain stroke. Today, he is fighting for his life in a hospital,” the party said.
“His family says it clearly: the endless targets, the fear, the constant pressure of this ruthless SIR broke him. How many more bodies does BJP need to pile up before this madness stops? BJP has blood on its hands, and Bengal will remember every single drop,” the TMC said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on January 12 had written to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar claiming that the SIR exercise “has already seen 77 deaths with four attempts to suicide and 17 persons falling sick and necessitating hospitalisation”, attributing it to “fear, intimidation and disproportionate workload due to unplanned exercise by ECI.”
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