A Booth Level Officer (BLO) engaged in Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls work in Bengal’s Malda district passed away on Wednesday morning after she was unable to cope with the intense pressure, according her family.
The deceased has been identified as Samprita Chowdhury Sanyal and worked as an ICDS worker by profession. She had been assigned BLO responsibilities at booth number 163 under ward number 15 of the English Bazar municipal area in Malda. She was a resident of the Phulbari Pakurtala area. According to her family, she fell critically ill after days of intense workload linked to SIR duties and passed away early in the morning despite having sought medical consultation and being advised rest.
Her husband alleged that his wife was pushed to the brink due to mounting pressure of completing SIR-related tasks, coupled with adverse weather conditions, which aggravated her health condition.
“My wife was under immense pressure due to SIR-related responsibilities. She was juggling her added duties beside her regular work. The strain increased after she had to verify documents of voters. The instructions were ever-changing. I saw her drain out day after day,” Ardhendu Chowdhury, the deceased BLO’s husband shared.
He claimed that despite being unwell for several days, she was unable to disengage from her official responsibilities due to constant work demands. “She used work sitting outside, in fields and regularly visiting homes of locals to collect documents. She fell in after catching cold. Her voice was strained. She was unable to speak after the cold turned to infection. I took her to a nursing home where the doctor advised her to stay at bed rest. She was temporarily relived due to the medicines but that dint last long because she was made to rejoin her duty and venture out further triggering her health condition,” Mr. Chowdhury added.
Following the incident, Trinamool Congress councillor of ward number 15, Gayatri Ghosh, visited the bereaved family and alleged that BLOs across districts were facing excessive pressure during the SIR process, leading to multiple cases of illness and, in this instance, death.
The Malda incident comes amid broader political claims that 17–18 BLOs are among nearly 40 individuals whose deaths have been linked to the SIR exercise in West Bengal over the past few months.
Families of several deceased BLOs have reportedly stated that their relatives were under continuous pressure throughout the SIR process, with little scope for rest or relief.
Highlighting the issue at the national level, Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra said a delegation had raised the matter directly with the Election Commission in November.
“We held a two-hour meeting but the main point of the meeting was we started off by presenting a list of 40 people, 17–18 of whom were BLOs whose deaths were directly linked to the SIR process. We were met with complete surprise by the Election Commissioner, who actually said that these were mere ‘allegations’, and it seemed as though the Election Commission had no idea that these people had died in West Bengal,” Moitra has said.
Meanwhile, the BJP has rejected attempts to place sole responsibility on the Election Commission. Ajay Gangopadhyay, president of the BJP South Malda organisational district, termed the death tragic but argued that pressure on BLOs was not limited to official directives alone. He alleged that local political representatives also exert influence on BLOs, contributing to the overall strain.
