Calcutta: A booth-level officer in East Burdwan, aged in her 50s, died on Saturday night after a suspected cerebral attack, allegedly brought on by work pressure.
Namita Hansda, who was BLO for Booth No. 278 at the Chak Balarampur gram panchayat under the Manteswar Assembly constituency, suddenly fell ill while distributing enumeration forms among the villagers.
Hansda was an Anganwadi worker from the same area.
“She called me, saying she was feeling unwell and asking me to take her home,” husband Madhab Hansda said.
“When I arrived there, she was unconscious. I immediately took her to the Kalna sub-divisional hospital, where she died around 11pm. The doctors said it was a brain stroke.”
He alleged: “My wife was under tremendous pressure to complete the distribution of enumeration forms. The office of the block development officer was mounting pressure on her to finish the task as soon as possible. Her death is the result of excessive work pressure.”
Madhab said his wife had been assigned to distribute forms among more than 1,200 voters, but had managed to cover only about 700 by Saturday.
“She had to go to the Anganwadi centre in the morning and then go out to distribute forms door to door,” he said.
Ahinsa Jain, sub-divisional officer for Kalna, East Burdwan, said the administration had immediately intervened and tried to provide the BLO with the best possible treatment.
“The incident is very unfortunate. We put in all efforts for her treatment,” Jain said.
She declined to comment on the allegation of “excessive work pressure”.
The enumeration process began on November 4 and is scheduled to end on December 4. During this period, the BLOs have to distribute the enumeration forms, clarify voters’ queries and collect the filled-in forms. They are also required to visit each household at least three times if any member, who is a voter, is absent during the first two visits.
Recently, a BLOs’ association wrote to the Election Commission seeking an additional 15 days to complete the enumeration process.
The Sangrami Joutha Mancha — a platform of state government employees fighting for unpaid dearness allowance — too has been championing the BLOs’ rights since the special intensive revision (SIR) process began.
Partha Ghosh, the state convener of the platform and himself a BLO, said the workload on BLOs this time was unprecedented.
“I have been a BLO for the past 10 years, but the workload we’re facing now cannot be compared to earlier times,” he said.
“People are anxious, and new instructions are coming almost every day. There’s tremendous pressure from both the ruling party and the Opposition.”
He said the BLOs were under various kinds of stress.
First, the job’s not just about visiting doorsteps and handing out forms — each BLO has to explain every section of the form.
“People are panicky and ask many questions. Visiting one house can take half an hour to satisfy voters,” Ghosh said.
Ghosh added: “In the rural areas, the BLOs are often forced to fill in the forms themselves, especially for households that have no educated members.”
Second, there’s political pressure. Many BLOs alleged that Trinamool Congress leaders were pressuring them to work under their instructions.
“If any BLO complies, the Opposition complains to the Election Commission. Following these complaints, the BLOs are threatened or issued with show-cause notices by their superiors,” Ghosh said.
Third and most important, the BLOs are working under tremendous strain as they have not been excused from their regular duties. For instance, if a BLO is a schoolteacher, they must attend school first and perform their Election Commissionduties afterwards.
After Hansda’s death, the political parties blamed each other and the Election Commission for the heavy work pressure on the BLOs.
Trinamool spokesperson Arup Chakraborty claimed that a continuous stream of threats from BJP leaders were responsible forHansda’s death.
“Since day one, BJP leaders like Suvendu Adhikari have been threatening BLOs with jail, referring to incidents in Bihar. We believe such pressure led to this tragic death,” Chakraborty said.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya alleged that Trinamool had been pressuring BLOs to do its bidding.
“Everyone knows who has been mounting pressure onthe BLOs. Complaints are pouring in every day about how TMC leaders are harassing BLOs. We have already complained to the Election Commission,”Bhattacharya said.
CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said: “The Election Commission should take responsibility for this death -- along with the TMC and the BJP --- for complicating the entire process. There would have been no harassment if the commission had simply considered the latest electoral rolls and Aadhaar data forthe enumeration.”
