A video of what could be Sarvesh Kumar’s last message for his family has emerged just a day after he was found dead in his home in Moradabad. Kumar was an Uttar Pradesh Booth Level Officer working on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
In the video, Kumar asks for forgiveness from his family. He also requested his mother and sister to take care of his four little daughters.
In tears, Kumar says that he had failed to complete his work for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. "Didi, forgive me, Mummy, please look after my children. I failed in this election work. I am going to take a step, and only I am responsible. No one has any fault. I am very upset. I have not been able to sleep for 20 days. If I had time, I would have finished this work. I have four little daughters. Please forgive me. I am going far away from your world," he said. He said that he wanted to live, but the pressure was too much.
Kumar was an assistant teacher at a government-run school. He was assigned to be a BLO on October 7. It was the first time he worked as a BLO.
BLOs are poll officers who go door to door to collect voters’ details and documents.
On Sunday at around 4 am, his wife Babli found that he had hanged himself. A note was found where he said that he was unable to cope with the burden of the job.
His family stays at Bahedi village in Moradabad’s Bhojpur. They demanded strict action against officials who pushed Sarvesh to take the extreme action.
Sarvesh Kuamr is not the only BLO officer to die from pressure and stress. 56-year-old Shobrani, who was a diabetes patient, got posted as the BLO of booth number 97 in the Mohalla Badwan Dhamour areas. She worked late at night, uploading the SIR form online, Times of India reported.
She later suffered from severe chest pain that night and was rushed to the hospital, where she was declared dead.
There have been reports of BLOs dying by suicide or by unnatural causes from multiple states in the country.
The SIR is being conducted in 12 states in India, including Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
More than two dozen BLO deaths were reported across the states. According to some reports, 5 BLO deaths were reported from Gujarat, 3 in Rajasthan, 6 in Madhya Pradesh, 3 in West Bengal, 4 in Uttar Pradesh, 2 in Tamil Nadu and 1 in Kerala.