BLOs burdened with unnecessary pressure: UP Cong chief meets kin of man who ended life

Moradabad (UP), Dec 4 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai met the family of booth-level officer Sarvesh Singh in Moradabad on Thursday, days after he allegedly died by suicide, blaming the SIR-related workload, and said the pressure was unnecessary, especially in states where no elections were scheduled.

He also visited the family of another booth-level officer (BLO), Aabha Solomon, who is admitted to a hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage, which her relatives claim was triggered by stress linked to the electoral roll cleanup duties.

Rai assured both families that the Congress stands firmly with them, as he criticised the government and election authorities for imposing "unbearable pressure" on BLOs and teachers drafted for election-related work.

He demanded Rs 1 crore compensation for both families and an assistant teacher post at government schools for the wives of the affected BLOs.

Speaking to PTI, the Congress leader said the BLOs were being burdened even though "more than half of the work remains incomplete". He termed the pressure unnecessary, especially in states where no elections are scheduled.

Many villagers, labourers and artisans cannot fill out electoral forms themselves, while BLOs often lack sufficient training to handle the complex verification tasks assigned to them, Rai claimed.

He accused the Election Commission of failing to study the specific needs of different voter categories before allocating duties and said the Congress would continue to raise the issue.

Rai demanded a comprehensive assessment to determine how many trained workers are required based on population and voter composition. PTI COR CDN NSD NSD