A Booth Level Officer (BLO) in Bengal’s Krishnanagar has died by suicide, leaving behind a note directly holding the Election Commission of India responsible for the intense pressure she faced while carrying out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) duties. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly condemned the Commission, asking how many more deaths must take place before the process is reconsidered.
The deceased, Rinku Tarafdar, aged 51, was found hanging at her home in Shasthitala on Friday. She had been serving as the BLO for Part No. 201 of Assembly Constituency 82, Chapra. A suicide note recovered from the scene lays bare her distress. Rinku wrote that the burden of BLO duties had become unbearable for her. “If I fail to complete the BLO work, administrative pressure will follow. I cannot handle that,” she stated. She went on to assign responsibility for her death, “The Election Commission is responsible for this end.”
Taking to social media platform “X”, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote, “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 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!!”
Rinku, a para-teacher at Swami Vivekananda Vidyamandir in Bangaljhi, had been assigned BLO responsibilities in the area. Her family said she struggled with the digital and online requirements involved in the SIR (Special Summary Revision) process and had been under intense stress for several days.
In her final words, she addressed her daughters saying, “Take care of your father. I never wanted to leave my family. I built this home with my own hands.” She emphasised that no family member was responsible for her actions, writing, “My husband, son, and daughter are not at fault. They take good care of me.” Despite this, she repeatedly returned to the pressure of her official duties, saying, “I am a simple person; I do not support any political party, but this inhuman workload is beyond my capacity.” Her family remains shattered. One relative said, “She wasn’t tech-savvy. The work pressure broke her.”
The death of Rinku Tarafdar in Nadia’s Krishnanagar has added to growing concern over the mounting pressure faced by Booth Level Officers during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Her suicide came just days after another BLO, Shanti Muni Ekka from Jalpaiguri, took her own life on 19 November. Ekka’s family said she struggled with a language barrier while carrying out BLO duties and had been overwhelmed by work-related stress. In a separate case, East Burdwan BLO Namita Hansda died on 9 November after suffering a brain stroke. Her family said the 51-year-old had been under severe strain from SIR responsibilities.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, underscoring the deaths, has written to the Election Commission of India, demanding that the SIR process be halted. She escalated her objections in a strongly worded letter to CEC Gyanesh Kumar, warning that the exercise had reached a “deeply alarming stage” and was being carried out in an “unplanned, dangerous” manner that had “crippled the system from day one”. Her remarks drew a swift response from Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Without naming her, he accused certain political parties of attempting to “shield infiltrators” by opposing the SIR process.
With the death of Rinku Tarafdar, the number of BLO fatalities during the ongoing SIR cycle has risen to six. West Bengal has recorded three deaths, Kerala one, and Rajasthan two. BLO associations across these states have protested, citing unmanageable workloads and the intense pressure to meet deadlines.
