A booth-level officer (BLO), Aneesh George, working for the Election Commission of Indiaduring the Special Intensive Revision(SIR) of the voter list in Kerala died by suicide on Sunday. The family of the 44-year-old officer from Kannur, said he had been under pressure to finish the work within the given deadline, according to a report by The Indian Express.
George, an office assistant at an aided upper primary school in Kannur district, was found dead at his home on Sunday.
“We are awaiting a report from the District Collector, Kannur, in this regard. We will react after getting the report from the Collector,” IE reported, quoting Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Dr Rathan U Kelkar.
Friends say he struggled with assigned booth
George had been assigned to the 18th booth under the Payyannur Assembly constituency. His family friend and neighbour, Thamban, said he had been stressed about completing the SIR work.
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“He had shared his concerns with others. Aneesh was not familiar with the booth that was assigned to him. Hence, he had been facing difficulties in distributing enumeration forms to voters,” the outlet reported, quoting Thamban.
Another friend, Shiju, told the media that booth-level agents (BLAs) of political parties were not helping him. “He had sought the help of BLAs of Congress and CPI(M). When the CPI(M) BLA failed to turn up, he was instructed not to go with the Congress BLA. He was tense as he could not complete the distribution of the enumeration forms on time,” he said.
However, T. Manoharan, Assistant Electoral Registration Officer of Payyannur, said George had to distribute forms to 1,065 voters and had already handed out 878 by Saturday. Only a small part of the work was left, he said. “I cannot comment on whether he was under pressure or not. His suicide has been reported to the higher-ups,” he added.
Opposition criticise ECI over death
Both CPI(M) and Congress criticised the Election Commission after George’s death. CPI(M) Kannur district secretary M.V. Jayarajan called the incident unfortunate and said BLOs were under huge pressure.
“We had asked the Election Commission to postpone the SIR till the elections to the local bodies are over. However, the ECI took a unilateral decision,” he said.
Congress’s Kannur district president Martin George asked for a detailed investigation. “We have also sought the postponement of SIR. BLOs have to be helped by the booth level agents of political parties. Since local body elections are slated for next month, local-level political leaders are fully engaged with campaigning. We have learned that the BLO had faced a threat from CPI(M). Let there be a probe into the incident. It is true that BLOs are facing immense pressure,” he said.
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According to ECI data, enumeration forms have been delivered to 93% of voters. Distribution began on November 4 and BLOs have been asked to complete the process, including collecting filled forms, by December 4.
Local body elections in Kerala will be held on December 9 and 11. The ECI and the State Election Commission have agreed that BLOs working on the SIR will not be given duties for the local body polls. |
