NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of poll rolls, two Booth Level Officers (BLOs) died in Uttar Pradesh. While 46-year-old Sarvesh Singh hanged himself in Moradabad’s Baheri village, a woman BLO named Shobharani died of cardiac arrest in Bijnor.According to news agency PTI, Sarvesh Singh confessed to feeling suffocated and said there was not enough time for the job he had been given. He was assigned the duty of a BLO on October 7. It was his first time working as a BLO.According to police, around 4 am, Sarvesh’s wife, Babli, found that her husband had hanged himself.“BLO Sarvesh Singh has committed suicide and has left behind a suicide note stating that he is unable to cope with the burden of BLO duty. His body has been sent for post-mortem,” Circle Officer (Thakurdwara) Ashish Pratap Singh said.Meanwhile, 56-year-old Shobharani, posted as the BLO of booth number 97 in Mohalla Badwan, Dhampur area, died at a Moradabad hospital, District Programme Officer Vimal Chaubey said.Her husband, Kripal Saini, said Shobharani, who was a diabetes patient, had been unwell for some time but continued working late into Friday night, uploading Special Intensive Revision (SIR) forms online. She complained of severe chest pain later that night and was rushed to the hospital, where she died.However, Chaubey said that there was no work-related pressure on the BLO. Shobharani was also an Anganwadi worker, the official added.This comes as several BLOs have either committed suicide or died unnaturally amid the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in 12 states across India, including Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh.Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Sunday extended the entire schedule of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls by one week.In a statement, the poll authority said the enumeration form distribution will now continue till December 11 instead of December 4.The draft electoral rolls will now be published on December 16 in place of December 9, while the final voters’ list will be out on February 14, 2026, in place of February 7.The EC had announced SIR in these states and UTs on October 27.
