NEW DELHI: As booth level officers protested over the work-related stress due to the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Kolkata, West Bengal chief election officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal on Monday said that poll body has asked the district magistrates to “assist the BLOs.”During a press conference, Agarwal was questioned over the alleged “work-related stress” which the BLOs are facing amid the ongoing voter roll purification drive. The CEO said that the poll body has asked the DMs of four districts to postmortem reports of the BLOs who died during the SIR exercise.”We are receiving complaints that BLOs are under pressure and some are falling ill. We have asked the District Magistrates (DMs) to assist them. There are also reports that some BLOs have died. We have asked the DMs of four districts to send the police and PM (postmortem) reports,” Agarwal said.”We will receive their reports in a day or two; only after that will we be able to take action, and on that basis, we will be able to inform the Election Commission of India that the BLOs died on duty due to SIR,” he added.Agarwal, however, steered clear from commenting on the political aspects of the controversy and said, “Definitely the work of the BLO is very hard. Because they have to go to each and every place. They have to collect the forms, give the forms, and digitise the forms. It is not an easy task. So BLOs are putting their level best in the entire thing.”This comes hours after BLOs stages a demonstration outside the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, protesting against excessive work pressure under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.The agitating BLOs also tried to enter the CEO’s office during their protest but were stopped by police, prompting a minor scuffle.Earlier in the day, members of the BLO Adhikar Raksha Committee marched from College Street in north Kolkata to the CEO office in central Kolkata. They carried locks and fetters to symbolically seal the main entrance of the CEO office. After reaching the office, protesters scaled police barricades in an attempt to enter the CEO’s premises.The BLOs accused the Election Commission of not addressing their complaints about the tremendous and inhuman work pressure during the SIR exercise.The committee also alleged that BLOs were falling sick and two of them died by suicide due to stress.The BLO Adhikar Raksha Committee had earlier announced that para-teachers, college professors and teachers from several organisations would join the march to press for immediate intervention by the Election Commission.House-to-house enumeration under the SIR began on November 4 and will continue till December 4, with draft rolls scheduled for publication on December 9.The committee warned that if deadlines are not extended or corrective steps are not taken, it will launch a continuous protest programme.Earlier in the day, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had written to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on this issue and asked the poll panel to halt the SIR exercise in West Bengal.The protest came days after two female BLOs died by suicide, reportedly due to stress and workload related to SIR, while another BLO suffered a cerebral attack.The committee warned that if deadlines are not extended or corrective steps are not taken by the Election Commission, it will launch a continuous protest movement across the state.
