'Stressed' BLO found hanging in Bengal's Nadia, 'suicide note' holds ECI responsible

Kolkata, Nov 22 (PTI) A woman working as a Booth Level Officer (BLO) in West Bengal's Nadia district was found hanging at her residence on Saturday, with her family members claiming that she was under considerable SIR work-related stress and died by suicide, police said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock over the BLO's death and said this has become "truly alarming now".

In a "suicide note" shared by the CM, the deceased held the ECI responsible for this consequence. Senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha, however, claimed that the suicide note is fake.

The ruling Trinamool Congress claimed that 34 people, including BLOs, have died during the ongoing SIR exercise which began on November 4, and demanded that the ECI take responsibility for these deaths.

"Profoundly shocked to know of the death of yet another BLO, a lady para-teacher, who has committed suicide at Krishnanagar today. BLO of part number 201 of AC 82 Chapra, Smt Rinku Tarafdar, has blamed ECI in her suicide note (copy is attached herewith) before committing suicide at her residence today," Banerjee said in a post on X.

She said, "How many more lives will be lost? How many more need to die for this SIR? How many more dead bodies shall we see for this process? This has become truly alarming now!!" The 52-year-old woman, a para-teacher at Vivekananda Vidyamandir, was found hanging from the ceiling of her room at her residence in the Bangaljhi locality of Chapra in Krishnanagar, a police officer said.

"The family is claiming that she was under immense pressure due to her SIR workload. We have recovered a note from her room. The body has been sent for postmortem. A probe is underway," the officer added. The deceased also stated in the note that she was not a supporter of any political party and was an ordinary citizen.

"I wanted to live. My family lacks nothing. But, for this modest job, they pushed me to such humiliation that I was left with no choice but to die. The Election Commission is responsible for this consequence," she alleged in the suicide note written in Bengali.

"I cannot bear this inhuman workload. I am a part-time teacher, and my salary is very low compared to my effort, yet they will not relieve me. I had completed 95 per cent of the offline work, but I was unable to manage the online tasks. Despite informing the BDO office and my supervisor, no action was taken," it said.

State minister Ujjal Biswas visited the residence of the deceased and spoke to her family members.

The chief minister on Thursday wrote a strongly-worded letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, asking him to immediately halt the SIR exercise which, she claimed, was "chaotic, coercive and dangerous".

Banerjee said she was "compelled to write" that letter because the SIR of the electoral rolls in the state had reached a "deeply alarming stage", alleging that the drive was being run in an "unplanned, dangerous" manner that had "crippled the system from day one". Senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha rubbished Banerjee's claims regarding the death of the BLO in Krishnanagar.

He challenged the TMC leadership to demand a CBI probe into the death of the BLO to substantiate their allegations that the SIR-related workload was responsible.

"This is absolutely meaningless. If the TMC leaders are brave enough, they should demand a CBI investigation into the death of the BLO. I can challenge them by saying that the suicide note is fake, just like the one we found in the Panihati case," Sinha told PTI.

He further questioned whether the BLO was under pressure from the TMC. "Who knows whether the TMC was asking her to record the names of the deceased or fake voters, and whether the BLO, unable to cope with that pressure, ended her life," Sinha said.

On Wednesday, a booth-level officer in Jalpaiguri district was found hanging, with her family claiming that "unbearable SIR work pressure" was responsible for her death.

Meanwhile, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has sought an immediate report from senior officials of Nadia district regarding the death of the BLO.

"We need to understand whether the reported reason behind her death is correct or not," an official said. Meanwhile, the TMC accused the ECI of working to appease a political party, linking the ongoing SIR exercise to multiple deaths, including those of BLOs and ordinary citizens.

Senior TMC leaders Arup Biswas, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Partha Bhowmick on Saturday visited the CEO's office and submitted a memorandum detailing these concerns.

"Work that normally takes two years is being compressed into two months. The Commission is being accused of trying to favour a political party. The names of 150 to 200 voters are being deliberately omitted at each booth. The Commission's website is full of errors. These lapses are costing lives," Biswas told reporters. Bhattacharya claimed that BLOs are being subjected to undue pressure without proper training, putting their lives at risk. PTI SCH RG NN