Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has slammed the BJP government over what he calls the “inhuman” pressure on Booth Level Officers, sharpening a confrontation that Mamata Banerjee has already pushed into focus.
Yadav accused the BJP of weaponising the SIR to advance a “larger electoral manipulation”, saying the ruling party was driving BLOs into unbearable stress through “impractical” targets.
“The BJP government is subjecting BLOs to inhuman behaviour by giving them impractical targets for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. It is a part of the ruling party’s larger electoral manipulation,” he said.
He said BLOs were being harassed to the point of breaking down, even as the government “neither created new jobs nor protected existing ones”.
He accused the BJP of “forcing staff to quit in frustration” and said the consequences were falling entirely on workers who had no say in how the system was being run.
“We stand firmly with every BLO,” Yadav said, appealing to officers and their families “to unite and raise their voice”.
He urged them not to take any step that could harm their families, and held the BJP government and the Election Commission responsible for deaths linked by unions and families to SIR pressure.
He warned that complicating the SIR process risked wiping out “crores of names” from Uttar Pradesh’s voter rolls.
Reiterating his demand for Rs 1 crore compensation to families of deceased BLOs, he announced that the Samajwadi Party would provide Rs 2 lakh to their dependents.
Mamata Banerjee, who has been raising the alarm for weeks, had already flagged the toll of the SIR.
At a Constitution Day event on Red Road on Wednesday, she said, “BLOs have died in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Bengal. Their demands are completely justified.”
Her remarks came after a 48-hour sit-in by BLOs at the Bengal Chief Electoral Officer’s office, a protest that ended only after the CEO intervened.
Mamata called the delay “inhuman”, asking, “Why so much arrogance? BLOs are dying. Won’t they speak out? How can work that requires three years to be completed be wrapped up in two months?”
Multiple deaths have been reported across states, with Trinamul attributing several in Bengal to suicides linked to SIR-related stress.
On November 22, Mamata posted a photo of Rinku, a para-teacher and BLO, and what she said was her suicide note.
“Profoundly shocked to know of the death of yet another BLO, a lady para-teacher, who has committed suicide at Krishnanagar today,” she wrote. “BLO of part number 201 of AC 82 Chapra, Smt Rinku Tarafdar has blamed ECI in her suicide note… 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 has since written to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, demanding an immediate halt to the SIR in Bengal and documenting the workload and harassment faced by BLOs.