The suicide of 51-year-old Booth-Level Officer (BLO) Rinku Tarafdar in Krishnanagar, Nadia district, has prompted BLOs to hit the streets of Kolkata in protest against what they called intense pressure to meet short deadlines in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Tarafdar was found hanging in her house, leaving behind a two-page, handwritten suicide note in Bengali, where she held the Election Commission responsible for her death.
Government teachers also joined the protest rally from College Street in Central Kolkata to the Election Commission (EC) office on Monday. Protestors tried to break police barricades and barge into the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal. All gates approaching the building were locked from inside by EC officials in the wake of the protests. A 13-member delegation was allowed inside the premises to meet EC officials.
“We have lost many of our colleagues because of SIR. We are not sure of the responsibility. We want to work; we are not against SIR. There is also no adequate training and time. How can we complete the process before 25th November?” asked Krishlay Banerjee, a BLO from Birbhum district, who was part of the protest under the banner of ‘BLO Adhikar Rakha Committee.’
The Nadia BLO death is the third reported in the state, with the first being the death of 50-year-old BLO Namita Hansda in Purba Bardhaman district on November 8. Hansda suffered a brain stroke while on duty and was taken to the hospital; she died later that night. Her husband blamed the pressure of short deadlines and the EC for her death.
The second BLO death was reported from Mal Bazar, Jalpaiguri district; 48-year-old Shantimuni Ekka died by suicide on November 19. The EC has sought reports on BLO deaths from the District Magistrates(DM) in each case.
BLOs say that the pressure to deliver within strict deadlines could result in mistakes, which could lead to them being reprimanded by the EC.
“They (EC) should have given more time for this work. Only then will we be able to complete this work properly. We are bound to make mistakes while working under pressure to deliver in a short span of time, and we are working from early morning till way into the night to upload the forms. I am also unable to go to the school to teach students who are dependent on me," said Sabir Ali Naskar, a BLO in Mograhat.
“We are facing several issues, and the EC is pressurising us, and we have forgotten our families. I am going from house to house, and many are unable to fill the forms. And, if there is any mistake, I will have to face the brunt. They should give us time to fill out everyone’s form," said Rajat Dolui, a BLO in the Diamond Harbour area.
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Meanwhile, the women BLOs are struggling to balance their SIR work and household duties. “Relationship with my daughter, who is in class 7, has deteriorated. Teaching her after school and her tuition too, have stopped, and I am unable to track her studies as I am neck deep in work. The SIR work is not taking place smoothly," said Mira Saha, who is a BLO at Jorasanko in Central Kolkata. Her primary stress as a BLO is uploading data on the BLO app, which takes time.
Digitalisation of documents for the 7.6 crore electorate within the month-long SIR process, which began on November 4 in 12 states and Union territories, is to conclude by December 4. It has added to the woes of BLO apart from the distribution and collection of enumeration forms.
