A booth-level officer (BLO) deployed for the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Meerut allegedly consumed poison.

His family and colleagues say the attempt was the result of sustained pressure and an exhausting workload.

Mohit Chaudhary, 35, a resident of Murlipura village and a senior assistant in the Irrigation Department, had been serving double duty as BLO-ICD in the Pallavpuram area.

Late on Tuesday, he was rushed to a private hospital on Garh Road before being shifted to Lokpriya Hospital in serious condition.

According to his family, Chaudhary had been struggling for days. They say he was stretched between two roles and constant demands for faster progress on forms.

They allege that a tehsil-level supervisor, Ashish Sharma, had been repeatedly admonishing him. The family claims Sharma threatened him with suspension and the possibility of an FIR if targets weren’t met.

They say Chaudhary went home on Tuesday night and consumed pesticide. His wife, Jyoti, said he would leave home early and return late. She added that he had stopped eating properly and had been mentally distressed for many days.

Soon after the news broke, union representatives and fellow BLOs gathered at the hospital. They accused the supervisor of harassment and said BLOs were taking on the heaviest burden under the ongoing SIR exercise while still facing pressure and threats.

The union warned that they would launch an agitation if action was not taken.

Officials, including additional city magistrate Deepak Kathuria, Naib tehsildar Aadesh Singh and police personnel, reached the hospital to pacify the employees. They also met Chaudhary’s family and assured a full inquiry.

District election officer and DM V.K. Singh told PTI that Chaudhary’s condition is now stable. He said an inquiry would determine the cause of the suicide attempt.

"The reason behind the act will be clear after the inquiry. Since the SIR drive is underway, people tend to link everything to it, but domestic or other issues could also be involved," he said.

The DM also said initial findings did not suggest workload pressure, pointing out that Chaudhary had completed over 70 per cent of his assigned work.

A BLO in Sikandra Rao town in Hathras district died on Tuesday morning after he collapsed at his residence, with his family alleging that he had been under severe work-related stress.

On Sunday, a 46-year-old BLO hanged himself in the storage room of his home in Baheri village in Moradabad because of work pressure. A woman BLO in the Bijnor district died of a cardiac arrest on Saturday night.