Trinamool Congress slams EC for suicide of another BLO in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday slammed the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the BJP government of Uttar Pradesh after a 46-year-old Booth Level Officer (BLO) allegedly committed suicide due to extreme work pressure related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.

Sharing a statement on social media, the party wrote: “We have been repeatedly saying that work which normally requires two years is being forced to be completed within two months by the BJP.

The ‘obedient’ Election Commission is pushing BLOs to their deaths.”

The deceased, Sarvesh Singh, was a schoolteacher in Moradabad who had been assigned BLO duty on November 7. The strenuous process of distributing, collecting and uploading enumeration forms within a severely curtailed timeframe reportedly took a toll on his mental health, leading him to take his own life. His wife, Babli Devi, found him hanging in a storeroom.

A suicide note and a video message left behind show him breaking down and pleading that his family not be harassed, saying he was ending his life because he could not complete the assigned workload.

This incident is not isolated. Reports suggest that more than 15 BLOs have died across 12 states where the revision of electoral rolls is underway. In Bengal alone, four BLOs have reportedly lost their lives during the SIR exercise.

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for the families of deceased BLOs. She also declared that Rs 1 lakh would be given to BLOs who suffered serious ailments during the SIR process.

The state government reiterated that the ongoing pressure on ground-level workers cannot continue and urged the EC to reconsider its approach.