The Election Commission posted two videos from Kerala of booth-level officers zumba dancing during breaks from their work of distribution and collection of enumeration forms for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and uploading data on the app provided by the commission that sparked a war of videos on social media, drawing flak and counter-videos of a BLOs purported suicide-note video.
“Quick break, Stronger Team… Election officials including BLOs enjoying break time in between their work under the ongoing SIR in Kerala,” stated a post shared by the EC on its official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Sunday evening.
Another video of dancing women and men was shared with the message: “BLOs, volunteers and revenue staff enjoying break in time in between their hectic schedule in Edacheri village, Kerala.”
The release of the dancing BLOs videos came on the same day when a 46-year-old BLO, Sarvesh Singh, was found hanging in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad and two other BLOs, one in UP and another in Rajasthan, died of medical complications that the families say intensified since the SIR exercise started.
The EC had announced on Sunday a week’s extension to the SIR exercise in Bengal and other states including UP, Rajasthan, Kerala and Tamil Nadu where it is ongoing.
The announcement came too late for Sarvesh Singh and other BLOs who have succumbed or died by suicide citing pressure. The SIR exercise will now be completed by 11 December and the draft rolls are to be published on 16 December.
Many on the internet juxtaposed the EC’s videos against a video purportedly of Sarvesh Singh, an assistant teacher at Jahidpur-Sikampur composite school.
In the video addressed to his mother, the man is seen sobbing inconsolably between the sentences that he managed to utter before taking his life.
Politicians and other citizens called out the EC for releasing the videos of the dancing BLOs when death of the poll officials has become almost routine.
A BLO from Kerala’s Kannur Aneesh George was among the first to have died by suicide since the SIR process started.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate shared the video of the assistant teacher from Moradabad who died on Sunday.
“BLO Sarvesh Singh died by suicide after writing this: I want to live, but what can I do. I am anxious and struggling. I am scared. I am working night and day but have not been able to meet the SIR deadline. I can barely survive the nights and the days are even worse. If I was given more time I could have met the target. This is too short for me. I am doing this for the first time. I have four young daughters. I would request the authorities not to bother my family. Forgive me.”
Supriya wrote: “After reading this I went numb.”
In another post she said: “This is the last video of BLO Sarvesh Singh. Before dying by suicide he was crying desperately. Why are his killers silent?”
The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress shared a list of the eight BLOs who have died in the state since the exercise started last month.
“Mummy, I want to live, but… BLO Sarvesh Singh appears so helpless in his last video, this is heart-wrenching. SIR is now beyond right and wrong. It has turned deadly. EC please stop this and discuss this grave issue,” the RJD national spokesperson Priyanka Bharti said in a post on X.
Lawyer Abhinav Arora responded to the EC’s post saying he had never come across anyone who wants to “dance” during the “limited break.”
“People usually want to sit, eat and have a quiet conversation. Nothing says “hectic” like making people dance in their short break. Totally natural, I’m sure,” he said.
At the all-party meeting on Sunday, the Opposition had demanded discussions on SIR and the Delhi blast during the winter session of the Parliament which started from this morning.
“Urgent issues like pollution and SIR should be discussed. Raising issues is not drama. Drama is not allowing elected representatives to speak on matters concerning the people. Why are we not being allowed to discuss them?” said Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress MP from Wayanad.
