A political storm has erupted over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll across 12 states and Union Territories. Multiple deaths of booth level officers (BLOs) have been reported in the past few days in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Kerala, further intensifying the situation in these 12 states/UTs. The Election Commission of India (ECI) maintains the process is going as per the plan and schedule. And this schedule is what has led to multiple protests in states.
The exercise, which began from Bihar, now has multiple states going against it.
Two teacher-cum-Booth level officers (BLOs) died of “illness” in Raisen and Damoh districts of Madhya Pradesh on Friday. Their families have blamed the deaths on the work pressure they had to endure due to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision. They said the work load was too much. In another case, a BLO has remained untraceable for the past six days in Raisen district.
Kerala also saw one death, followed by one in Rajasthan and then two in West Bengal. The ruling Trinamool CongressTrinamool Congress (TMC) has now said that the body of the deceased BLOs should be taken to the ECI office. TMP MP Mahua Moitra has blamed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar for the deaths.
Amid chaos, multiple pleas reached the Supreme Court as well seeking pause and extension of the SIR. And the ECI has said nothing so far.
According to ECI, for 50.97 crore voters in 12 states/UTs, it has deployed 5.32 lakh BLOs. This means one BLO has at least 956 electors to manage in a month. This includes distributing forms, visiting their houses, collecting then and addressing their issues.
BLOs receiving ‘constant instruction’ over call
The deceased in MP were identified as Ramakant Pandey and Sitaram Gond (50). They were posted in Raisen and Damoh districts, respectively.
“Ramakant Pandey, a teacher from the Satlapur area, was working on the voter list revision drive in Mandideep.. He died late Friday night due to some illness,” sub-divisional officer (SDO) and electoral registration officer of Bhojpur Assembly constituency, Chandrashekhar Shrivastava, told PTI. The postmortem report is awaited to know the exact cause behind the death.
The one missing was identified as Narayan Das Soni, a teacher residing in Bhavya City. He has been missing for six days after leaving home without informing anyone.
The families have reasons for the pain they are going through – heavy work load, extra hours, constant assignments. They also claimed that Pandey would receive constant instructions over the phone to meet deadlines. His wife Rekha Pandey said her husband feared suspension if targets were unmet and had not slept for the past four nights.
“He (Ramakant Pandey) joined an online meeting around 9.30 PM on Thursday and collapsed soon after going to the bathroom. He was first taken to Noble Hospital in Bhopal and later shifted to AIIMS, where doctors declared him dead”, they said, quoted PTI.
SDO Shrivastava said Pandey’s family members will receive assistance and a compassionate appointment as per rules. But the question remains, is it justice?
In Damoh district, Gond, a teacher working as BLO in Ranjra village, fell ill on Thursday evening while filling enumeration forms. District Education Officer S K Nema told PTI that he was rushed to the district hospital in Damoh and referred to Jabalpur district for advanced health care in a critical condition, where he died during treatment on Friday night.”
The story is the same here as well. His friends said he was under immense pressure due to enumeration duties in Ranjra and Kuda Kudan villages.
BLO Shyam Sundar Sharma, who died recently in a road accident in Tendukheda under the Jabera assembly segment of Damoh district, was also battling the similar pressure. His family said the officials even threatened him with suspension.
Two BLOs die in Bengal
In West Bengal, the scenes and chaos is no different. On Saturday, a woman working as a BLO in the Nadia district was found hanging at her residence. Her family alleges she was under severe pressure due to the ongoing SIR work. West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee took to X to express her shock.
“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,” she said.
VIDEO | Kolkata: A four-member delegation of the All India Trinamool Congress met the State Election Commission. Party leader Chandrima Bhattacharya says, "We have told the Election Commission that there is no proper preparation for procedures (for SIR). If preparations are not… pic.twitter.com/fXSuGYunVp
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 22, 2025
“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!!” she added.
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, quoted PTI.
In her note, the BLP has allegedly “held the EC responsible for her situation”.
“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 has alleged in the suicide note. The deceased further said, “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.”
The situation, TMC said, has turned all chaotic across the state. The second death comes day after Banerjee wrote to CEC Gyanesh Kumar urging him to halt the exercise.
Before Rinku, Shanti Mani of Jalpaiguri died by suicide allegedly due to SIR work pressure. Her husband would return every evening “mentally devastated”, quoted India Today. He said his wife had gone to resign as well, but the Joint Block Development Officer refused to accept the same.
A four-member delegation of the TMC met the State Election Commission. Party leader Chandrima Bhattacharya said they have communicated that there is no proper preparation for procedures (for SIR). “If preparations are not done properly then there is no meaning of implementing the procedures. The BLOs have not been properly trained. There are several errors on the website. The time limit given is also very short,” she said.
‘No intention to pressurise them’, says Kerala CEO
As the anger grows across states, Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Ratan U Kelkar on Saturday said that BLOs are being provided all possible assistance to carry out the SIR of the electoral roll, and there is “no intention to pressurise them”.
Speaking to reporters, he said the targets have been given to BLOs to ensure that SIR is completed on time and not to create pressure.
He said that even the district collectors have been to extend full support to the BLOs.
Oppn fears ‘vote chori’ in UP
Amid a row over BLOs’ death, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Saturday accused the BJP government and the Election Commission of conspiring to delete more than 50,000 voters from each Assembly segment where his party and the INDIA bloc fared strongly in the last general elections.
“We have received information that in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the BJP, in collusion with the Election Commission, is making major preparations,” he said, quoted PTI. He said the exercise should not be carried out during the wedding season and demanded that the poll panel extend the timeline. A call Tamil Nadu and Kerala has long been asking for.
