BLO found dead in Bengal’s Nadia district, suicide note blames EC over SIR workload

A woman working as a Booth Level Officer (BLO) in West Bengal's Nadia district was found hanging at her residence on Saturday morning (November 22), with her family members claiming that she was under considerable SIR work-related stress and died by suicide, police said.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee expressed her shock over the BLO's death and said this has become "truly alarming now".

‘How many more need to die for this SIR?’

Banerjee in a post on X said, "Profoundly shocked to know of the death of yet another BLO, a lady para-teacher, who has committed suicide at Krishnanagar today. BLO of part number 201 of AC 82 Chapra, Smt Rinku Tarafdar has blamed ECI in her suicide note (copy is attached herewith) before committing suicide at her residence today.

"How many more lives will be lost? How many more need to die for this SIR? How many more dead bodies shall we see for this process? This has become truly alarming now!!.”

Also Read: SIR drive: Tamil Nadu BLO dies by suicide; family blames officials, DMK

The BLO, identified as 52-year-old Rinku Tarafdar, was found hanging from the ceiling of her room at her residence in the Bangaljhi area of Chapra in Krishnanagar, an officer said.

"The family is claiming that she was under immense pressure due to her SIR workload. We have recovered a note from her room. The body has been sent for postmortem. A necessary probe is underway," the officer added.

Tarafdar, a para-teacher at Vivekananda Vidyamandir, was serving as a BLO for Booth No 201 in Chapra-2 Panchayat, he said.

Suicide note

Police sources said a suicide note was recovered.

In the note, allegedly written by Tarafdar, the deceased "held the EC responsible for her situation".

As per the police officer, the deceased had also mentioned that she did not support any political party and was an ordinary citizen.

"I want to live. My family lacks nothing. But for this modest job, they pushed me to such humiliation that I was left with no choice but to die," she alleged in the suicide note.

Also Read: SIR drive: BLO duty under spotlight as Gujarat reports two deaths in 48 hours

"I cannot bear this inhuman workload. I am a part-time teacher, and my salary is very low compared to my effort, yet they would not relieve me. I had completed 95 per cent of the offline work, but I was unable to manage the online tasks. Despite informing the BDO office and my supervisor, no action was taken. I was assigned work for Booth No 201 because no one else was available, while many others were later appointed as BLOs in other booths," it said.

State minister Ujjal Biswas visited the residence of the deceased and spoke to her family members.

Mamata’s letter to CEC

The West Bengal Chief Minister had written a strongly-worded letter to CEC Gyanesh Kumar on Thursday (November 20), asking him to immediately halt the SIR exercise that she claimed was "chaotic, coercive and dangerous".

Banerjee said she was "compelled to write" because the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in the state had reached a "deeply alarming stage", alleging that the drive was being run in an "unplanned, dangerous" manner that had "crippled the system from day one".

Also Read: Locked doors, long walks, and nervy voters: A day in the life of a Kerala BLO

The chief minister accused the Election Commission of thrusting the SIR upon officials and citizens "without basic preparedness", flagging "critical gaps in training", confusion over mandatory documents, and the "near-impossibility" of booth-level officers (BLOs) meeting voters "in the midst of their livelihood schedules".

BJP challenges CM’s claims

Senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha rubbished Banerjee's claims regarding the death of the BLO in Krishnanagar.

He challenged the TMC leadership to demand a CBI probe into the death of the BLO to substantiate their allegations that SIR-related workload was responsible.

"This is absolutely meaningless. If the TMC leaders are brave enough, they should demand a CBI investigation into the death of the BLO. I can challenge them by saying that the suicide note is fake, just like the one we found in the Panihati case," Sinha told PTI.

Also Read: After Kerala, BLO in Rajasthan dies by suicide; family alleges SIR pressure

He further questioned whether the BLO was under pressure from the TMC.

"Who knows whether the TMC was asking her to record the names of the deceased or fake voters, and whether the BLO, unable to cope with that pressure, ended her life," Sinha said.

Second death this week in Bengal

On Wednesday, a booth-level officer in Jalpaiguri district was found hanging, with her family claiming that "unbearable SIR work pressure" was responsible for her death.

Meanwhile, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has sought an immediate report from senior officials of Nadia regarding the death of the BLO.

"We need to understand whether the reported reason behind her death is correct or not," one official said.

(With agency inputs)

(Suicides can be prevented. For help please call Suicide Prevention Helplines: Neha Suicide Prevention Centre – 044-24640050; Aasara helpline for suicide prevention, emotional support & trauma help — +91-9820466726; Kiran, Mental health rehabilitation — 1800-599-0019, Disha 0471- 2552056, Maithri 0484 2540530, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)