BLO dies in West Bengal, family alleges excessive work pressure under SIR

Kolkata: A booth-level officer (BLO) in West Bengal's Malda district died on Wednesday, with her family members alleging that she was under stress due to excessive workload in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, police said.

The deceased, identified as Samprita Choudhury Sanyal, had been "unwell for the past few days and was advised to take rest by doctors, but she continued working for the electoral roll revision exercise", her husband said.

"Her condition deteriorated as SIR workload mounted. She died at our residence in the early hours of Wednesday," he said.

Sanyal was an ICDS worker and was serving as the BLO of booth number 163 in the Englishbazar Municipality area, a senior police officer said.

The deceased was a resident of the Phulbari Pakurtala area, he said.

Trinamool Congress councillor Gayatri Ghosh visited the family and alleged that "excessive pressure during the SIR process was affecting the health of BLOs".

BJP south Malda organisational district president Ajay Gangopadhyay said, "Any death is unfortunate, but it is not right to put all the blame on the Election Commission. Trinamool Congress leaders and the elected representatives are also pressuring the BLOs over the deletion of fake voters."