CM Mamata Banerjee slams ECI after death of BLO in Jalpaiguri, alleges 'unbearable SIR pressure'

She said 28 people have already lost their lives since SIR began, some due to fear and uncertainty, others due to stress and overload.

Kolkata: After a Booth Level Officer engaged in Special Intensive Review of the electoral rolls in West Bengal died, allegedly due to excessive work pressure, the state’s chief minister and the supremo of the ruling Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee, hit out at the Election Commission and urged it to halt the exercise.

“I urge the ECI (Election Commission of India) to act with conscience and immediately halt this unplanned drive before more lives are lost,” Banerjee wrote on X, alleging that 28 people had already lost their lives since the commission had launched the SIR of the electoral rolls West Bengal – “some due to fear and uncertainty, others due to stress and overload”.

At least five BLOs have died in West Bengal, Rajasthan and Kerala since the EC launched the SIR of the electoral rolls in 12 States and Union Territories early this month.

The body of Shantimuni Ekka, 48, an anganwadi worker serving as the BLO for the SIR of the electoral rolls, was found hanging from a tree – with her scarf around her neck – near her home in the New Glencoe tea garden area in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal early on Wednesday. Her husband, Sukh Ekka, alleged that she had been going out at night for the SIR works after working at the anganwadi centre throughout the day and completing her household chores.

Sukh alleged that Shantimuni had to attend to several people who had visited the residence of the couple in the evening to seek help in filling up the enumeration form and correcting errors. She could not take the “unbearable pressure” and had visited the local block development officer’s office to seek relief from the SIR-related work, but her plea had been turned down, said the husband of the deceased BLO, adding that the mounting stress pushed her to death by suicide.

Shantimuni’s death came days after another BLO, Namita Hansda, had died of a brain stroke in the Purba Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Her family, too, had alleged that increasing work pressure had led to her death.

The office of the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal in Kolkata sought a report from the local administration on the death of Shantimuni on Wednesday.

The TMC accused the EC of carrying out the SIR in West Bengal at the behest of the BJP. The ruling party alleged that several people died, either due to stress or by suicide, as the SIR of the electoral rolls made people apprehensive about losing their voting rights.

Mamata and the other leaders of the TMC alleged that the EC had launched a “silent invisible rigging” or the SIR to ensure advantage for the BJP in the state assembly elections next year.

“Such precious lives are being lost because of the unplanned, relentless workload imposed by the so-called Election Commission of India. A process that earlier took 3 years is now being forced into 2 months on the eve of elections to please political masters, putting inhuman pressure on BLOs,” the TMC supremo posted on X, adding: “I urge the ECI to act with conscience and immediately halt this unplanned drive before more lives are lost.”

The state BJP heavyweight and the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, however, claimed that the BLO in Jalpaiguri had died by suicide because she had been put under immense pressure by the officials of the state’s TMC government.