Pressure is not from EC but from TMC's terror mafia: BJP on Mamata Banerjee's claim on BLO's death

NEW DELHI: (Nov 19) The BJP on Wednesday slammed as a "poisonous lie" West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s claim about the "suicide" of a booth level officer (BLO) due to SIR workload, and alleged that the poll official died due to "threats and pressure" from the ruling TMC "goons".

According to the state police, 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. Her family alleged she died by suicide after weeks of mounting stress caused by the ongoing Special Intensive Review (SIR) of the electoral rolls.

Banerjee blamed the Election Commission for the BLO's death, alleging that "inhuman, unplanned" SIR workload is crushing field staff. Claiming that 28 people have died since the SIR process began, the chief minister alleged that a task earlier spread over three years was being forced into two months "to please political masters", putting "inhuman pressure" on ground-level staff.