New Delhi: At least 33 booth level officers (BLOs) died by suicide or medical emergencies in six states, notes a latest report by the SPECT Foundation, a non-profit research organisation. Their families have alleged that these deaths are linked to the ongoing nationwide special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Notably, the SPECT report does not include deaths from West Bengal where the chief minister Mamata Banerjee has claimed that at least 40 govt officials involved in the SIR duties have lost their lives.

Documenting family statements and suicide notes from SIR officials, the report pins the blame on the EC’s handling of the massive revision.

“I can no longer continue this SIR work. I have been feeling exhausted and troubled for several days. Take care of yourself and our son. I love both of you very much, but now I feel completely helpless. I have no option left anymore,” read the suicide note of Arvind Vadher, a BLO from Gujarat.

The Wire has earlier also reported on BLO deaths in Uttar Pradesh, particularly the case of Vipin Yadav, whose family alleged that he was forced to keep out certain communities – a charge that the election commission has denied.  

In a video note that another BLO from Uttar Pradesh, Sarvesh Singh, purportedly recorded before his suicide, he pleaded to his mother: “Mother, please take care of my daughters. Please forgive me. I could not complete the task. I am going to take a drastic step.” 

He also said that nobody should be blamed for his decision, and urged viewers not to question his family or ask them anything about the matter. “I am in deep distress. I haven’t been able to sleep for the last 20 days. I have four young daughters. Others can complete the work, but I am not.”

Despite these allegations, neither the Election Commission nor its chief, Gyanesh Kumar, have acknowledged the deaths or announced any compensation for the family of the deceased.

The SIR that was first conducted in Bihar, just before the recently concluded state assembly elections, has been a subject of criticism and scrutiny from the beginning. Opposition parties like the Congress and RJD have repeatedly alleged that the exercise unduly benefits the Bharatiya Janata Party – a charge that EC has denied. 

The SIR exercise was then extended to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh. The SPECT report notes: “Framed as an unprecedented clean-up of the voter lists, SIR goes far beyond routine revisions that focus on removing deceased or permanently migrated voters. Instead, it amounts to a near-total overhaul of the rolls within an extremely compressed timeline.”

It mentions the unwarranted use of punitive state action as the major cause of distress among officials. Particularly, in two districts in UP – Noida and Sahibabad – 81 BLOs have been booked for dereliction of duty, the report states.  

The report also notes multiple hurdles that the officials are facing leading to this grim situation forcing them to take extreme steps. In practice, it states, the SIR has turned “into a de facto re-registration drive for large segments of the electorate.” 

“The entire field-level verification, form collection, and initial data entry,” the report says, “are being carried out within roughly one month in each phase. The compressed schedule has exposed serious administrative gaps and procedural loopholes, most starkly visible in Bihar.” 

“The process of SIR is not just disenfranchising Indian citizens en masse, but also turning into a death trap for the BLOs,” it states.

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