A Booth Level Officer (BLO) from Domkal, Murshidabad, was seen entering voter details on his phone during his own wedding ceremonies, highlighting the extreme pressure faced by BLOs during West Bengal’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
The officer, Mushtaq Ahmed — a teacher at Anandnagar Primary School in Islampur area of Murshidabad district — handles a booth with 774 voters.
A resident of Bhatshala, Domkal, Ahmed’s school is nearly 15 kilometres away from his residence. He is responsible for 774 voters in his booth, but only about 40% of the forms have been submitted so far. With deadlines quickly approaching, Ahmed had no option but to work through his wedding festivities.
Ahmed’s wedding was scheduled long before the Election Commission declared the initiation of the SIR process. He was denied leave to attend his own due to mounting pressure of completion of the Special Intensive Revision. As a result, BLO Mushtaq Ahmed found himself juggling voter data entry from the day of his wedding through to the reception. He continued SIR work from the day of his wedding through the reception. “My wedding date had been fixed months before the SIR schedule was announced, leaving him no option but to work through the celebrations,” Ahmed said.
A photo of him typing entries while guests prepared for rituals at home has since gone viral.
Ahmed’s situation is not an isolated case. Since the SIR process began on November 4, BLOs across the state have been burdened with round-the-clock duties: distributing and collecting forms, verifying voter information, and completing digital entry on the app — tasks they say are nearly impossible to manage within the given timeframe.
Last Saturday, a 52-year-old Rinku Tarafdar, working as a BLO in Nadia district, was found hanging at her residence, with her family claiming that she was under considerable pressure due to SIR-related work.
Police sources said, Tarafder was recovered from her room in her residence in Bangaljhi area of Chapra in Krishnanagar. Further, a note was recovered from her room in which she “held the EC responsible for her situation,” police informed. Tarafdar was a para-teacher at Vivekananda Vidyamandir and served as a BLO for Booth No 201 in Chapra-2 Panchayat.
“I can no longer bear this inhuman workload. I am a part-time teacher with a very low salary compared to the effort this job demands, yet they refused to relieve me. I had completed 95 percent of the offline work, but I simply couldn’t keep up with the online tasks. I informed the BDO office and my supervisor, but nothing was done. I was given charge of Booth No. 201 because no one else was available, even though many others were later appointed as BLOs in different booths,” the note said.
Many BLOs report working without sleep, skipping meals, and travelling long distances within their booths. Some have collapsed under the workload; in tragic cases, officers have even taken their own lives.
"Profoundly shocked to know of the death of yet another BLO, a lady para-teacher, who had committed suicide at Krishnanagar today. BLO of part number 201 of AC 82 Chapra, Smt Rinku Tarafdar, 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 in this process? This has become truly alarming now!!” CM wrote on X handle.
Bengal has been facing a cluster of SIR deaths linked to the SIR process. At least three BLOs have lost their lives and several have been admitted to various hospitals after complaining of illness across districts amid the ongoing special revision.
