BLO Suicide In Jalpaiguri Exposes Crushing SIR Workload In Bengal
By KUNAL CHATTERJEE
A second booth-level officer (BLO) has died in West Bengal, allegedly due to overwhelming work pressure linked to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, sparking a fresh wave of concern across the state.
On Wednesday, November 19, Shantimuni Orao, a 48-year-old Anganwadi worker and the BLO for booth number 20/101 in Rangamati Gram Panchayat, was found hanging from a tree near her home in the New Glencoe Tea Garden area of Jalpaiguri’s Mal block. Police have launched an investigation and sent her body for autopsy at Jalpaiguri Sadar Hospital.
Shantimuni’s family says she was unable to cope with the intense workload thrust upon her since being appointed as a BLO. In addition to her regular Anganwadi duties and household responsibilities, she was reportedly required to visit homes late into the night, assisting residents—mainly Hindi speakers—with SIR forms that are issued only in Bengali. “She could not take this pressure. She went to the block office to seek an exemption but was told she had to continue. That broke her spirit,” her husband Sukh Ekka recounted. He added that constant mistakes in the forms, driven by language barriers, further contributed to her mental anguish.
The incident comes just days after another BLO, Namita Hansdar, died of a brain stroke in East Burdwan while on duty. The deaths have drawn sharp criticism from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who directly blamed the Election Commission for what she characterised as unplanned and inhuman workloads. In a social media post, the Chief Minister claimed that 28 people have taken their own lives in the state since the SIR began, citing fears, mental stress, and unbearable work pressure. She appealed to the Election Commission to halt the SIR immediately, emphasising that the previous SIR cycle spanned three years, whereas, the current revision has been forced into a two-month timeframe ahead of elections.
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Minister of State for Backward Classes Welfare and Tribal Development, Buluchik Baraik, visited Shantimuni’s family to offer condolences and support, acknowledging the panic among BLOs, especially in tribal, Hindi-speaking pockets where language and administrative demands are acute. With panic spreading among field-level election officers, demands are mounting for immediate intervention to prevent further tragedies as the SIR process continues in West Bengal.
