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'Voter Fraud Syndicate Collapsing': War Of Words Between BJP, TMC After BLO's Death Amid Bengal SIR
A heated war of words broke out between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the Election Commission for the death of a booth level officer (BLO) in Jalpaiguri over alleged pressure related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The deceased, identified as 48-year-old Shantimuni Orao, an anganwadi worker serving as the BLO for booth number 20/101 under Rangamati gram panchayat, was found hanging from a tree near her home in the New Glencoe tea garden area early in the morning, according to police. Her family alleged she died by suicide after weeks of mounting stress caused by the SIR drive.
“Today again, we lost a Booth Level Officer in Mal, Jalpaiguri — Smt Shanti Muni Ekka, a tribal lady, an anganwadi worker who took her own life under the unbearable pressure of the ongoing SIR work. 28 people have already lost their lives since SIR began — some due to fear and uncertainty, others due to stress and overload," Banerjee claimed in a post on X.
“Such precious lives are being lost because of the unplanned, relentless workload imposed by the so-called Election Commission of India. A process that earlier took 3 years is now being forced into 2 months on the eve of elections to please political masters, putting inhuman pressure on BLOs," she added, urging the ECI to act with conscience and halt the “unplanned" exercise.
The BJP hit back at Mamata Banerjee's accusations, with Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari saying that the CM was attempting to shift blame to the ECI. " We have inquired about the incident. I have come to know that because of pressure from her senior officials of the state government, she was under immense stress and committed suicide," he alleged.
BJP IT Department chief Amit Malviya accused Mamata Banerjee of spewing lies to protect her “infiltrator empire" from the SIR exercise. He also alleged that TMC goons had openly threatened to “ties BLOs to trees and break their limbs", hinting at abetment to suicide.
“This incident is testimony to the pressure from TMC's voter-fraud syndicate. The real disease killing Bengal's grassroots workers is 14 years of Trinamool hooliganism. Her demonic plot to rob real Bengalis of their rights and gift Bengal to Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators is collapsing. Mamata Banerjee is counting her last days as Chief Minister, and the entire state can smell her fear," Malviya said.
BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said Mamata Banerjee was blaming the ECI as her infiltrator-drioven voter base was collapsing due to the SIR. “The SIR has exposed thousands of illegal additions, clusters of voters with identical documents, Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators used as political capital. For 14 years, TMC protected this vote-bank through fear. Now that the ECI is cleaning it up, Mamata is panicking," he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress also joined in the conversation over the “painful and shocking" death of the Jalpaiguri BLO and called the SIR a tool of “vote theft" to manipulate electoral rolls. “BLOs in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Kerala have also died by suicide. In every one of these tragedies, one thing is clear: the pressure created by the SIR exercise is driving people to their breaking point," it said on X.
“SIR has become a tool for ‘Vote Chori'. Narendra Modi and the Election Commission have turned this exercise into a race, not to protect democracy, but to manipulate voters list. And Gyanesh Kumar is ready to sacrifice people just to prove loyalty to his boss MODI," it alleged.
Senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said genuine voters were panicking and dying by suicide due to the pressure created by the SIR exercise. “On the other hand, this BJP is creating pressure on BLOs. BLOs are also committing suicide under pressure. Our Chief Minister has strongly protested against this," he said, accusing individuals of exploiting the Election Commission to push a politically motivated agenda of the BJP.
Shantimuni's family alleged that she took the extreme step after weeks of mounting workload caused by the SIR. Her husband, Sukh Ekka, described a daily routine that had become “mentally unbearable".
He said that after completing her regular anganwadi duties and household chores, Shantimuni would go out at night to collect documents and fill up forms for the revision work. “The forms are all in Bengali, but most people here speak Hindi. Mistakes were bound to happen. Every evening, people would come to our house. She couldn't handle the pressure," he told reporters.
The woman had reportedly visited the block office seeking relief from the assignment but was told she had to continue as her name was on the list, her family claimed. Her death came days after another BLO, Namita Hansda of Purba Bardhaman, died of a brain stroke after allegations of increased work pressure.
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, has sought a report from the district regarding the incident. Local MLA and Minister of State for Backwards Classes Welfare and Tribal Development, Bulluchik Baraik, who met the bereaved family, said the SIR-related workload had created “panic" in the predominantly tribal belt. An investigation has been initiated into the incident.
(with inputs from PTI)
Source: News18
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