Over 10 BLO deaths during nationwide SIR, EC denies any link

“I cannot handle this inhuman work pressure.”

“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.”

Booth Level Officers (BLO) suicides, political pressure, SIR, and the Election Commission. These terms have been cycling through news agencies nonstop.

With reports of rising suicide cases among booth level officers, the second phase of the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) has sparked significant controversy.

The one-month enumeration phase of SIR Phase-II, currently underway in nine states and three Union Territories, has tasked BLOs with distribution and collection, with a deadline of December 4.

Since it began on November 4, at least five BLOs across 12 states and UTs, including Kerala, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, have died within a span of 21 days.

They blamed SIR for their deaths.

BLO suicides

Fifty-three-year-old Rinku Tarafdar worked as a part-time teacher and was assigned BLO duties in Nadia, West Bengal. She was found hanging on November 22, leaving behind a two-page suicide note in Bengali, holding the Election Commission responsible for her death.

“I cannot handle this human work pressure. I have completed 95 percent of the offline work, but I do not know anything about the online work. I have to be ready at all times, and everything must be submitted on time. Nothing will be forgiven. All government documents of the school are in order. My children should be able to live properly. That is my final wish. Truly, my conscience is exhausted. I cannot bear it,” she wrote in the note accessed by the NewsLaundry.

A BLO from Kerala, Aneesh George, who died by suicide on November 16, left no note. However, his family and colleagues said the school office attendant had been under heavy pressure to complete his SIR workload within the given deadline.

In Rajasthan, Mukesh Jangid killed himself on November 16. Bindayaka police station in-charge Vinod Kumar said a suicide note indicated he had been under “extreme work pressure” from his supervisor and had been “threatened with suspension.”

In Kolkata, no suicide note was left after Shantimoni Ekka’s death on November 19. Although her family claimed she had become mentally stressed and overwhelmed by the added responsibilities.

A government school teacher, Arvindkumar Muljibhai Vadhel in Kodinear, Gir Somnath, died on November 21. A suicide note attributed to him stated, “For the past several days, I have been exhausted and mentally overburdened. I see no option left except to take this final step.”

Since the start of the SIR exercise, eleven BLOs have died, some from heart attacks and exhaustion. Families of the deceased BLOs stated that work pressure was a driving force behind their deaths.

However, poll officials doubt the link.

In the Rinku Tarafdar case, EC had sought an “urgent report” from the district magistrate (DM). He was quoted as saying, “Why was Rinku Tarafdar mentally distraught? What had happened? After the report arrives, the next course of action will be decided.”

When a BLO died by stroke in Madhya Pradesh, an electoral registration officer, Chandrashekhar, dismissed any work pressure. “He died of a heart attack, but we are awaiting the post-mortem report to shed more light on his death,” he was quoted by 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,” he added.

Many had reported to their families that they feared suspension. Ramakant Pandey’s wife claimed that he collapsed right after his online meeting around 9:30 pm.

What is SIR?

SIR stands for special intensive revision. It’s a voter-roll verification exercise by the Election Commission to clean up the electoral lists. By ensuring only eligible voters are included, and removing ineligible, duplicate, or dead voters.

Before the current phase, the last pan-India SIR was carried out between 2002 and 2004. In Bihar specifically, the most recent SIR was in 2003.

What BLOs do during SIR

Unlike the routine annual revision, the SIR demands that BLOs conduct a comprehensive door-to-door process. They must hand out and collect detailed forms, verify the information provided, and compare it with the 2002-2003 electoral rolls. And then enter the data digitally via a national mobile app, and achieve daily quotas set by local officials.

Additionally, voters need to provide information from the last nationwide SIR in 2002, including their constituency, polling booth, and voter ID number.

NewsLaundry explains the step-by-step process here.

Technical failures

Due to the massive demand of BLOs trying to upload data at the same time, the app keeps crashing. However, without the problem being addressed, there is pressure to complete a fixed number of forms every day.

A government school principal expressed the workload as more work in less time.

“The targets do not reflect technical reality. The app cannot support this volume. In villages, the process is manageable because people have lived in the same place for years, but in cities, it is extremely difficult.”

A teacher in Meerut was reportedly given 867 forms.

“I have managed to digitise only 250 forms. We are the ones filling everything. How are we supposed to find names from the 2003 list? Every hour, the tehsildar checks on us, and the DM and SDM are constantly asking for updates. In the second phase, they expect us to correct mistakes automatically.”

She claimed they were instructed to prioritise this work over school, resulting in students losing an entire month of studies.

“If the EC can collaborate with TCS for the app, why can it not hire a private agency for data entry. After what happened in Bihar, there is fear among the BLOs.”

Some stated they are called for meetings until late at night, forcing them to neglect their family and basic needs.

Meanwhile, the Noida administration has filed FIRs against more than 60 BLOs and seven supervisors across three police stations for alleged negligence and non-compliance during the SIR exercise.

Additionally, two BLOs have been suspended for alleged lapses, and a third has been booked following a complaint by a BJP leader in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh.

Opposition reactions

Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, called the situation “chaos under the guise of SIR.” In an X post, he wrote, “SIR is a calculated ploy – where citizens are being harassed, and the deaths of BLOs from unnecessary pressure are dismissed as collateral damage.”

“This is not a failure, it’s a conspiracy – a sacrifice of democracy to protect those in power.”

West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, wrote that it is “almost certain that by December 4, voter data across multiple constituencies cannot be uploaded with accuracy.” She warned that pressure on BLOs is a risk to “disenfranchisement of genuine voters”, which “erodes the integrity of the electoral roll.”

She also criticised the Election Commission for issuing show-cause notices to BLOs who are already under significant stress.

Chandrashekhar Azad, chief of the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner outlining several demands.

These include extending the SIR deadline, removing the mandatory requirement to provide records from 2003, exempting teachers and anganwadi workers from BLO duties, conducting a high-level investigation into all BLO-related suicides and deaths, urgently improving digital infrastructure in rural regions, and ensuring a safer electoral process for both workers and the public.