A 46-year-old cabin level officer (BLO) committed suicide in the storage room of his house in Baheri village, allegedly due to work stress, police said on Sunday.
Sarvesh Singh, an assistant teacher at a school in Bhagatpur Tanda village, was given the duties of a BLO on October 7 — serving in the role for the first time, PTI reported.
According to the police, around 4 am Sarvesh’s wife Babli found that her husband had hanged himself.
In his suicide letter, Sarvesh admitted that he felt suffocated and said that there was not enough time for the work he had been given.
“BLO Sarvesh Singh committed suicide and left behind a suicide note stating that he was unable to cope with the burden of BLO duties. His body has been sent for post-mortem,” Circle Member (Thakurdwara) Ashish Pratap Singh said.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by the couple’s four daughters.
A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway in several states, including Uttar Pradesh. This monstrous exercise seems to have taken a toll on many government workers who were involved in removing inaccuracies and preparing electoral rolls with only genuine voters.
On Saturday, a 42-year-old BLO involved in SIR collapsed and died at his home in Rajasthan’s Dholpur.
Anuj Garg collapsed late on Saturday night while uploading voter data. His family claimed he was working under extreme pressure, police said.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Sunday extended the entire schedule of the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls in nine states and three union territories by one week, amid allegations by opposition parties that the “tight deadlines” were causing problems for people and officials at the ground level.
Election Commission (EC) officials said the schedule has been adjusted to allow booth-level officials to share details of dead, duplicate and shifted voters with booth-level party representatives for greater transparency.
Most states conducted their last voter roll SIR between 2002 and 2004 and have almost completed mapping current voters based on those records.
The main objective of this exercise is to identify and remove foreign illegal migrants by verifying the voters’ place of birth. The move has gained importance in the context of ongoing crackdowns in several states against illegal migrants, including those from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Help is available!
Here are some toll-free numbers for suicide and mental health helplines in India:
Tele‑MANAS (National Mental Health Helpline): 14416 / 1800-891-4416
KIRAN Helpline: 1800-599-0019
Vandrevala Foundation: 1860-266-2345 or 91529-87821 / 91529-87822
