Mamata Urges EC to Halt SIR After Another BLO Dies

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee reiterated her appeal to the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday to halt it's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) as another female booth level officer (BLO) died, this time by suicide, due to work pressure. BJP slammed her plea.

Shanti Muni Oraon (46), the BLO, was found hanging dead in the morning at her house in Malbazar of Jalpaiguri, a northern district. Employed in Integrated Child Development Services, she was tasked to distribute enumeration forms of the SIR to the voters of booth no 101 of Rangamati gram panchayat.

Her husband Sukhu Ekka said that she was fed working throughout the day after leaving home early in the morning and went to submit her resignation to the local block development officer a few days ago but her attempt was rejected which left her depressed. This was the second BLO death in the state.

Ms Banerjee posted on X-handle, “Deeply shocked and saddened. Today again, we lost a Booth Level Officer in Mal, Jalpaiguri — an anganwadi worker who took her own life under the unbearable pressure of the ongoing SIR work. 28 people have already lost their lives since SIR began — some due to fear and uncertainty, others due to stress and overload.”

She alleged, “Such precious lives are being lost because of the unplanned, relentless workload imposed by the so-called Election Commission of India. A process that earlier took 3 years is now being forced into 2 months on the eve of elections to please political masters, putting inhuman pressure on BLOs. I urge the ECI to act with conscience and immediately halt this unplanned drive before more lives are lost.”

Hitting back at the Trinamul Congress supremo, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya claimed, “Mamata Banerjee spews yet another POISONOUS LIE to shield her infiltrator empire from the Special Intensive Revision! In NDA-ruled Bihar, the same SIR happened with the same timeline, and zero suicides were reported. Why are BLOs dying only in Mamata’s Bengal? Because in Bengal, TMC goons threaten teachers, Anganwadi and ASHA workers: “Finish the voter list fast or lose your job, face transfers, face violence.” The pressure is not from the ECI — it is from TMC’s terror mafia.”

He added, “Mamata’s goons like Firhad Hakim openly threatened to “tie BLOs to trees and break their limbs.” Days later, deaths started getting reported. Was Shanti Muni Ekka’s death really a suicide, or abetment to suicide by TMC terror?”

Mr Malviya also argued, “..Now, when a tribal sister dies tragically, with the reasons still to be ascertained, the shameless, anti-Constitution despot Mamata Banerjee blames the ECI instead of her own party’s miscreants. This incident is testimony to the pressure from TMC’s voter-fraud syndicate.”