A Booth Level Officer (BLO) and an elderly individual passed away in West Bengal due to alleged workload and panic related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and voters’ list. The deceased BLO, Subimal Karak, aged 58, resided in Hatimari area of Shalboni police station in West Midnapore district. Despite his reluctance to undertake the SIR responsibilities due to age and health issues, he was assigned the role of BLO, leading to prolonged mental stress.
Subimal, who also worked as a teacher at Sabli Primary School, fell ill suddenly on Thursday morning and was taken to a local doctor by family members, where he was pronounced dead. Trinamool Congress MLA Sujoy Hazra criticized the Election Commission, calling it the “Torture Commission” and highlighting the stress faced by individuals like Subimal. The deceased BLO’s daughter, Suchandrima Karak, expressed the family’s anguish over his workload and health issues, emphasizing his reluctance to bear the responsibility.
In a separate incident in Ranaghat, Nadia district, a 62-year-old man named Jaydev Dutta passed away after his name was reportedly missing from the final voters’ list following the SIR exercise. Jaydev, who lacked some necessary documents, submitted his own papers during the SIR process, leading to distress upon finding his name categorized as deleted in the final list. Family members attributed his death to a heart attack on Thursday morning, linking it to the stress caused by the voter list discrepancies.
Amid these tragic events, concerns were raised regarding the workload of BLOs, with differing political viewpoints emerging. While the Trinamool Congress criticized the Election Commission for the alleged stress leading to fatalities, the BJP urged an end to what they termed as “dirty politics” of blame-shifting during such unfortunate incidents.
