BLO Found Dead In Bengal’s Bankura; TMC Alleges 50 Lives Lost Due To SIR Pressure

Last Updated:December 28, 2025, 9:22 pm IST

The incident has triggered a political row, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for what it called a rushed and stressful electoral process.

A Booth Level Officer (BLO) was found dead in West Bengal’s Bankura district on Sunday, raising concerns that heavy work pressure linked to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls may have contributed to the incident, police said.

The body of the deceased, Haradhan Mandal, was recovered from the premises of a school in Ranibandh block on Sunday morning. Police said a note was found at the spot, which they believe to be a suicide note.

Mandal was a schoolteacher by profession and was serving as the BLO of Booth No. 206 in the Rajakata area of Ranibandh block, a police officer said. According to officials, the note carried Mandal’s signature and mentioned his inability to cope with work-related pressure in his role as a BLO.

“We have seized the note and sent the body for post-mortem examination,” the officer said.

Police have started an investigation to determine the exact circumstances surrounding Mandal’s death. Officials said all possible angles are being examined.

The incident has triggered a political row, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for what it called a rushed and stressful electoral process. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee alleged that the SIR exercise was being “bulldozed” for political gain.

“The death toll keeps mounting as another BLO appointed and engaged by the @ECISVEEP has taken his own life under the inhuman pressure of a hurried, chaotic and politically motivated SIR process,” Banerjee said in a post on X.

He claimed that Mandal’s suicide note held the “inhuman nature of the task” responsible for his decision.

“What should have been a methodical process has instead been bulldozed through by a pliant, complicit Election Commission, bending its spine to serve the political arithmetic of one party and the ego of one man,” he said.

Banerjee further alleged that more than 50 lives had been lost due to what he described as panic, anxiety and exhaustion caused by the exercise.

“And as for the BJP, if people drop dead from fatigue, despair or terror, it is an acceptable collateral cost, a convenient footnote in their power play,” he said, adding, “West Bengal will neither forgive nor forget. History is watching.”

The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls began in West Bengal on November 4.

Read More