SIR tragedy: Bengal BLO dies of brain stroke under pressure to distribute enumeration forms
A woman who worked as a Booth Level Officer (BLO) lost her life during a voter‑roll update exercise in West Bengal. Police confirmed that Namita Hansda, a local Anganwadi worker, died from a brain stroke on Sunday night in Memari, a village in East Burdwan district.
The stroke happened after a long day of door‑to‑door visits to hand out enumeration forms, a key part of the state’s “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) of the voter list before the upcoming elections. Namita was on duty at booth number 278 in Chowk Balrampur when she went to the Kalna sub‑divisional hospital for treatment and later died there.
Her husband, Madhav Hansda, said she had been under intense pressure to distribute more and more forms. “Every day she was told she had to distribute more,” he said. “She was very stressed and worked until night. She had a stroke on Saturday and died that night.”
East Burdwan District Magistrate Ayesha Rani said she was looking into the matter and reminded that anyone who is sick should not be assigned BLO duties. The Election Commission is still rolling out the SIR until December 4, using the 2002 voter list as the base for the revision. Once volunteers finish handing out forms, the updated voter list will be published on December 9.
In response to Namita’s death, Swapan Mandal, a polling worker and secretary of the BLO Unity Platform, has requested a Rs 50 lakh compensation for her family from the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer’s office. The incident underscores the heavy demands on BLOs during these critical voter‑registration drives.
Source: ianslive
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