The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the states to deploy additional staff, if necessary, for the special intensive revision of electoral rolls following reports of suicides by overstressed block-level officers.

The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi emphasised that staff cannot shirk their SIR duties, nor can state governments “run away from this obligation” of providing employees for the exercise.

“The employees deployed by the state at the disposal of the ECI (Election Commission of India) for SIR are obligated to perform such duties. In case they face hardships, including... being overburdened, then the state government can obviate such hardships by deploying alternative staff,” Justice Kant said.

“However, the election duty staff cannot be withdrawn unless their substitutes are provided to the ECI.”

The directions came on an application from the TVK, a political party floated by actor Vijay Augustine in Tamil Nadu, challenging the ongoing SIR as illegal and claiming 30 to 40 suicides by BLOs.

The governments of Bengal and Kerala, too, have assailed the SIR on various grounds.

“The state government cannot run away from this obligation. Obviously, they are under a duty. If there is a difficulty being experienced then, on a case-to-case basis, the state government shall exempt them and provide an alternative,” Justice Kant remarked.

Some of the court’s key directives:

• All the states and Union Territories where the SIR is under way should deploy additional staff, if necessary, to reduce the workload on the existing BLOs.

• The states are obligated to deploy their workforce at the service of the poll panel.

• Employees’ requests for exemption from SIR duties on personal grounds may be allowed, case by case, after examination. But staff cannot be withdrawn without the commission being provided with substitutes.

• Individual relief such as ex gratia for BLOs who have died during the exercise will be taken up on a later date.

Appearing for the TVK, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan had complained that while many BLOs had committed suicide, the commission was filing criminal complaints against officials for alleged dereliction and lapses.

He said these cases — which carry jail terms between three months and two years — were adding to the already enormous pressure on the BLOs.

Sankaranarayanan said most BLOs were schoolteachers or Anganwadi workers and were working till late hours, such as 3am, because they were forced to discharge their regular duties as well.

He said a young BLO had sought leave to attend a wedding but was instead suspended, leading to his suicide.

The Chief Justice, however, said: “They are state employees. It is for the state to see if a woman is (in the) family way, or someone is sick, so that they are to be exempted….”

During the hearing, the bench asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Bengal and Kerala governments, why the states were coming with complaints.

Sibal said the SIR could have been conducted over six to seven months rather than being rushed through in about two months.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel along with senior counsel Maninder Singh, said the allegations about work pressure and harassment of BLOs were “a creation of imagination”.

He said the issue was being politicised by the parties with a false narrative.

“Every polling booth shall have 1,200 persons (voters), they (BLOs) are to upload 1,200 forms…. I don’t know how there is pressure. All this is a creation of imagination,” Dwivedi said.

The arguments will continue on December 9.