Shockwaves rippled through West Bengal this week following the tragic death of Shantimoni Ekka, a Booth Level Officer (BLO) and anganwadi worker from Mal block in Jalpaiguri district, who was found dead in the courtyard of her home on November 19, 2025. Her family and local officials allege that the overwhelming workload imposed by the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls drove her to suicide—a claim that has ignited fierce debate and public anger across the state and beyond.
Ekka’s passing is not an isolated incident. According to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, at least 28 BLOs have lost their lives since the SIR exercise began, many reportedly succumbing to unbearable stress, fear, and uncertainty. The SIR, a massive door-to-door verification and enumeration campaign conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI), has seen its timeline dramatically compressed from the usual three years to just two months ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. This acceleration, Banerjee and her party allege, has resulted in relentless, unplanned pressure on BLOs, who form the backbone of India’s electoral machinery.
“Deeply shocked and saddened. Today again, we lost a Booth Level Officer in Mal, Jalpaiguri, an anganwadi worker who took her own life under the unbearable pressure of the ongoing SIR work,” Banerjee wrote in a strongly worded statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), as reported by Business Standard. She continued, “Such precious lives are being lost because of the unplanned, relentless workload imposed by the so-called Election Commission of India. A process that earlier took three years is now being forced into two months on the eve of elections to please political masters, putting inhuman pressure on BLOs.”
The deceased, Shantimoni Ekka, was responsible for distributing enumeration forms at booth 101 in Rangamati gram panchayat, about 600 kilometers north of Kolkata. She also managed duties at a local Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) center for children. Her family claims that the dual responsibilities became impossible to juggle. Her husband, Sukhu Ekka, told Maktoob Media that his wife had repeatedly informed her senior officer about her mounting work pressure, but no action was taken. “She told senior officers several times that she was not able to handle the job, but they insisted she must continue. She wanted to resign, but they didn’t let her,” he said. Their son added, “She simply could not handle both jobs.”
Bulu Chik Baraik, Bengal’s Backward Classes Welfare Minister, suggested that language barriers may have compounded Ekka’s difficulties, noting that while she spoke Hindi, most of the local residents spoke Bengali. “We suspect that she took her life under work pressure. These people speak Hindi but most of the local residents speak Bengali. She was having problems,” Baraik told Maktoob Media.
This latest tragedy comes close on the heels of other similar incidents. Earlier in November, Namita Hansda, another BLO from East Burdwan, reportedly suffered a fatal cerebral attack attributed by her family to severe stress from SIR duties. Parallel cases have also emerged from Kerala and Rajasthan, where families have blamed election-related work pressure for the deaths of BLOs.
The timing of Ekka’s death is particularly poignant. Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti was in West Bengal to review the SIR’s progress in several districts, including Kolkata North, South, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, and Murshidabad. Meanwhile, BLOs across the state staged protests on November 17, 2025, decrying the heavy workload and tight deadlines. The SIR exercise is currently underway in 12 states and Union Territories, including West Bengal and Kerala, with the ECI set to publish the first draft of the electoral roll on December 9, 2025.
West Bengal, with a population nearing 93 million and about 76 million registered voters, has 80,681 polling booths and an equal number of BLOs—each now under mounting stress as the SIR drive reaches its crescendo. The sheer scale of the operation and the compressed timeline have led to accusations from opposition parties, civil society groups, and even state governments that the ECI is rushing the process in a “hasty and opaque” manner. Critics allege that this is being done to manipulate voter lists ahead of the 2026 state elections, particularly in opposition strongholds like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Kerala.
Banerjee has been unsparing in her criticism of the ECI. “I urge the ECI to act with conscience and immediately halt this unplanned drive before more lives are lost,” she declared, demanding that the commission suspend the SIR exercise to prevent further tragedies. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused the ECI of advancing deadlines and burdening BLOs with excessive field verification tasks, resulting in workers collapsing from exhaustion, long hours, and the pressure to meet seemingly impossible targets.
Not everyone, however, sees the situation through the same lens. Opposition parties have dismissed the TMC’s accusations, arguing that the state government is attempting to deflect responsibility for inadequate administrative support to field-level workers. They contend that while the ECI’s demands are high, it is the state machinery’s failure to provide proper support, training, and resources that is truly to blame for the mounting toll on BLOs.
For its part, the ECI has not yet issued a formal response to the chief minister’s allegations or the growing outcry from BLOs and their families. However, the commission’s ongoing visits and reviews suggest an awareness—if not yet a public acknowledgment—of the crisis unfolding on the ground.
Police have sent Ekka’s body for post-mortem examination and launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of death. As the probe continues, her family’s allegations of “work pressure” have sparked widespread discussion in her locality and across the state. The case has become a flashpoint in the broader debate over the treatment of frontline electoral workers and the human cost of India’s democratic processes.
Meanwhile, the sense of urgency is palpable. With the first draft electoral roll set for release in less than a month and Assembly elections looming in March–April 2026, the fate of both the SIR exercise and the welfare of those tasked with its completion hang in the balance. The deaths of Ekka and her colleagues have forced a reckoning—one that goes beyond statistics and deadlines, reaching into the heart of the nation’s commitment to fair, humane, and inclusive elections.
The coming weeks will reveal whether the outcry leads to meaningful change or if the relentless pace—and its toll—continue unchecked. For now, the voices of grieving families, exhausted BLOs, and a divided political class echo across West Bengal, demanding answers and, above all, compassion.
