Booth-level officers (BLOs), who have complained of intense SIR-related work pressure, are also being pushed over the edge by assaults and administrative apathy.

Vipin Kumar Yadav, a BLO in Gonda’s Jaitpur who died by suicide on Tuesday, was seen saying in a video recorded in a hospital that he consumed poison because his seniors had threatened him with dire consequences if he failed to complete his SIR assignment.

However, district magistrate (DM) Priyanka Niranjan attributed Vipin’s death to “some personal, family-related issues”.

“A BLO is supposed to collect at least 40 enumeration forms in a day and make entries in the computer or mobile app of the Election Commission. The server is very slow and works four hours per day on average. Still, they
are threatened, intimidated and punished. The DM is very insensitive,” a relative
of Vipin said on condition of anonymity.

Local administrative officers have also downplayed the suicide of BLO supervisor Sudhir Kumar in Fatehpur on Tuesday. His seniors had rejected his leave application for Wednesday, when his wedding was scheduled.

“Some officers came to our house on Tuesday morning, flung some papers on Sudhir’s face and threatened him with arrest if he dared to step out of his constituency,” Sudhir’s cousin Sudhir told reporters.

“The same officers came after his death on Tuesday and asked us to keep our mouths shut or face arrest,” he added.

Reports of attacks on BLOs are also trickling in from across the state. Police have arrested Mohammad Imtiyaz for attacking three BLOs on Tuesday. Sabhya Tiwari, a teacher from Shivagarh in Pratapgarh district, was also among the assaulted.

Vimal Kumar, subdivisional magistrate of Raniganj under which Shivgarh falls, said: “Imtiyaz and Mohammad Jeeshan had attacked the BLOs and torn up the enumeration forms. Imtiyaz was sent to jail, and the police are looking for Jeeshan.”

Rajesh Kumar Jaiswal, a senior assistant in the minor irrigation department who had been engaged as a BLO in Sahukara, Bareilly, was also beaten up on Monday. Jaiswal has filed a police complaint against his alleged attacker, Arpan Garg.

Four days ago, Ashok Kumar, a BLO in Lakhimpur Kheri, had lodged a police complaint against Samajwadi Party leader Laxman Gupta for manhandling and verbally abusing him during SIR work in Mohalla Bazar Khurd.

Gupta denied the allegation and said: “The BLO only handed out my wife’s enumeration form. I am also a voter. He didn’t respond properly when I asked him to give me my form. So I berated him.”

The government has ordered the deduction of a day’s salary for 10 panchayat secretaries in Aligarh’s Atrauli block for allegedly not taking the SIR seriously.

Block development officer Ved Prakash said: “There are 13 panchayat secretaries who were supposed to attend a meeting in the block on Tuesday to give updates about the SIR work. Only three of them turned up.”

Earlier, in Allahabad, the salaries of seven BLOs were withheld, and an FIR was registered against one for dereliction of duty during the voter roll revision work.