BLO ‘suicide’: Bengal CEO seeks report from Nadia District Magistrate

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal on Saturday sought a report from the Nadia District Magistrate on the death of a Booth Level Officer (BLO), sources in the administration said.

In the meantime, the CEO’s office has asked Nadia District Magistrate Aneesh Dasgupta to submit a report immediately.

The Election Commission of India also contacted the Nadia District Magistrate over the phone, according to sources.

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It was also mentioned that the Election Commission has not yet received a report from the Jalpaiguri District Magistrate on the death of a booth-level officer on Wednesday.

The Commission also wondered why there was so much delay in sending the report by the District Magistrates on the death of booth-level officers.

The development came hours after another Booth Level Officer (BLO) died in West Bengal, allegedly due to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) related “work pressure”.

Today’s incident came three days after the suicide of a female BLO in the Mal Bazar area of Jalpaiguri district in north Bengal over the same reason.

This time, a female BLO hanged herself in the Shasthitala area of Krishnanagar in Nadia district on Saturday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Rinku Tarafdar (51).

According to the police, a suicide note was recovered from her room, wherein she blamed the Election Commission for her death.

At the same time, the BLO wrote that no one in her family was responsible for her death.

The BLO also wrote, “The Election Commission is responsible for my fate. I do not support any political party. I am a very ordinary person. But I cannot bear the pressure of this inhuman work. I am a part-time teacher. The salary is very low compared to the hard work. But, they did not spare me.”

Following the incident, the Trinamool Congress once again slammed the Election Commission over the latest death of a BLO.

In a social media post, the party wrote, “Another innocent life lost in SIR panic. Rinku Tarafdar, BLO of Shasthitala, Nadia, was mentally broken due to inhuman administrative pressure, unrealistic deadlines and the fear of punishment for a minor mistake. In this unbearable situation, he was finally forced to choose the path of suicide.”

The official handle of the party further said in that post, “The Election Commission’s complex digital process, unrealistic deadlines, fear of punishment and the mental torture being imposed on the workers in the name of nightly surveillance are completely unacceptable. While the lives of BLOs are being lost due to inhuman pressure, the BJP is only busy grabbing political benefits. This is the true face of the BJP’s cruel, inhuman and irresponsible politics.”

On Wednesday, a female BLO identified as Shanti Muni Ekka died by suicide due to alleged work pressure during the SIR exercise in the state. The incident occurred in the Mal Bazar area in Jalpaiguri. The family of the woman alleged that she decided to end her life as she could not bear the pressure of SIR work.

Following the incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lambasted the Election Commission over the “suicide” of a female BLO.

Using her social media handles, Ms Banerjee claimed that about 28 people have died in the state since the Election Commission began the SIR of Bengal’s electoral rolls.

The West Bengal Chief Minister also asked the Election Commission to halt this “unplanned drive” to save lives in the state.

On Friday, the West Bengal government announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the family of deceased BLO Shanti Muni Ekka in Jalpaiguri and Rs 1 lakh for BLO Tapati Biswas in Hooghly.

Meanwhile, a compensation of Rs 2 lakh was also announced for the family of BLO Lalit Adhikari, who died in a road accident on Thursday.

He was a resident of the Baradham Chatragram area in the Cooch Behar district. The compensations were handed over to the families by district officials.