Is the cost of a fair democracy being paid in human lives? Twenty-three deaths. Suicides, heart attacks, brain hemorrhages. These aren’t soldiers on a border; they are school teachers and clerks forced to work as Booth Level Officers and SIR Supervisors. Is the Election Commission’s SIR campaign killing its own foot soldiers?
A Timeline analysis reveals a grim statistic: 19 BLOs, 2 BLO assisntants and 2 SIR Supervisors have died due to work-related stress or collapse during the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, campaign.
The state-wise breakup is alarming:
Madhya Pradesh records the highest with 7 deaths.
Gujarat follows with 5.
Uttar Pradesh has seen 4 casualties.
West Bengal has 3, Rajasthan 2, and Tamil Nadu and Kerala report 1 death each.
So, what exactly is SIR? It stands for Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls across India. Unlike routine checks, this drive demands BLOs dig up voter records from 2002 and 2003, verify them door-to-door, and upload data on an app that users say crashes constantly. All this with a deadline of December 4th. The pressure isn’t just technical; it’s existential. Teachers report threats of suspension if daily quotas aren’t met.
In West Bengal, Rinku Tarafdar, a teacher and BLO, was found hanging. Her suicide note read, “I cannot handle this human work pressure… Truly, my conscience is exhausted.”
In Rajasthan, Mukesh Jangid jumped in front of a train.
And in Gujarat, another BLO died of a heart attack after her request to be recused from duty due to heart issues was reportedly denied by the Collector.
These tragedies have triggered a massive political war. The Opposition is calling this ‘institutional murder’. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has termed the SIR campaign a ‘calculated ploy’ and ‘imposed tyranny’, alleging that citizens are being harassed while BLOs are treated as collateral damage. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee warned this pressure risks disenfranchising genuine voters.
On the other side, the ruling BJP has come out swinging, accusing the opposition of politicizing these deaths and obstructing the voter revision process.
But what does the Election Commission say? Officially, they doubt the link between the deaths and work pressure. In Madhya Pradesh, officials dismissed a death as a natural heart attack, claiming the officer was in ‘high spirits’. However, the EC has admitted some concern—they’ve capped the workload at 1,000 voters per BLO and doubled the annual allowance to ₹12,000. But families say it’s too little, too late.”
From Pinky Singh in Noida resigning because she “can neither teach nor do BLO work,” to protests turning violent in Kerala, the grassroots machinery of Indian elections is breaking down.
We want free and fair elections. But do we want them built on the broken backs of teachers denied sleep and dignity? As the deadline of December 4th approaches, the question remains: Will the system pause to count its dead, or just count the voters?
