A Booth Level Officer (BLO) died in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district on Thursday morning. The deceased, Subimal Karak (58), was a primary school teacher. His family claims he was under severe work pressure related to BLO duties. The incident took place in the Hatimari area under the Salboni police station.

Subimal Karak taught at Sabli Primary School. He was assigned BLO responsibilities for the Hatimari booth. According to family members, he had heart problems and was not willing to take the responsibility because of his age and health. However, they claim the duty was still assigned to him. The family alleges that he had been under mental stress for a long time because of the workload.

On Thursday morning, Subimal suddenly fell ill at home. Family members immediately took him to a local doctor. He was declared dead shortly after arrival.

Family alleges work pressure

Subimal's daughter, Suchandrima Karak, blamed the workload linked to BLO duties. She said the pressure had affected his health for some time.

"Bapi (father) couldn't handle the work pressure at all. Since the exercise started, he repeatedly fell ill. Sometimes he got dizzy and fell. Neighbors brought him home. Sometimes he made himself sick staying up at night to work. There are 1071 names here. Online work. There was tremendous pressure," she said.

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Family members claim he had expressed reluctance to perform the duty earlier due to illness. They allege the stress linked to election-related work contributed to his death.

Political reactions

Local MLA Sujoy Hazra visited the Karak family's house on Thursday afternoon after learning about the incident. Criticising the Election Commission, he said, "This is not the Election Commission, it's a Torture Commission. People will never forget this oppression. The Election Commission is responsible for this."

The incident has once again raised allegations about the deaths of BLOs during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) phase. The Trinamool Congress has earlier claimed that excessive workload is putting pressure on election staff.

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However, the BJP rejected the allegations. Arup Das, spokesperson for BJP's Medinipur organisational district unit, said, “Any death is unfortunate. But lately, Trinamool is blaming the Election Commission for any death that occurs. This dirty politics should stop."

Authorities have not yet made any official statement linking the death to BLO duties.