Bhopal, Nov 28 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Leader of Opposition (LoP) Umang Singhar on Friday demanded compensation for the families of the deceased Booth Level Officers (BLOs) involved in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state, who died while carrying out SIR duties.

LoP Singhar said that the BLOs — government employees, and teachers — are working under immense pressure from the Election Commission.

“They can’t express themselves publicly due to fear of losing their jobs. These BLOs are forced to work overtime every day. They aren’t allowed a single leave. The EC is doing this all to prove its efficiency and transparency in the name of the electoral process. But the EC has lost its credibility completely,” Singhar told IANS.

On deaths and deteriorating health conditions of the BLOs, LoP Singhar said the ECI and the state government should take cognisance of the issue.

He further demanded that the immediate families of deceased BLOs — who died while carrying out the SIR exercise — should be compensated.

“It is a pathetic situation that BLOs are being forced to work beyond their duty hours due to immense pressure. The state government must think over this,” he said.

Several BLOs, many of them teachers, have died in the past two weeks in Madhya Pradesh. On Tuesday, a fresh casualty was reported in the Rewa district, where an Anganwadi worker, Veena Mishra (working as BLO), died after suffering a cardiac arrest on Tuesday.

Last week, a BLO Maniram Napit (54), who was a government teacher, died of a heart attack in the Shahdol district. He was getting forms filled from voters in Pateria village.

On November 20, a BLO died of a heart attack in Mandideep in the Raisen district. The BLO, Ramakant Pandey, was attending an online meeting. His health deteriorated 10 minutes after the meeting ended, and he collapsed in the washroom.

Family members took him to the hospital, but doctors declared him dead. Ramakant Pandey was a teacher at the Ward 17 Tilakhedi Primary School and was performing BLO duty.

On November 19, a BLO, Sitaram Gond, in Damoh district, was admitted to the district hospital after his health deteriorated. From there, he was referred to Jabalpur. He later died during treatment.

In another case, BLO Bhuvan Singh Chauhan of Jhabua district died of a heart attack. Bhuvan Singh, who was a teacher by profession, was working as a BLO. On November 18, the District Election Officer suspended him for negligence in work.

According to the post-mortem report, Bhuvan Singh died of cardiac arrest. The family alleges that he lost his life due to the stress of suspension.

Another teacher, Sujan Singh Raghuvanshi, who was working as a BLO, allegedly died in an accident when he was returning from duty late at night in Narmadapuram district.

Besides these untimely deaths, several BLOs are currently admitted in various hospitals across the state with serious issues like heart attacks and brain haemorrhages.

Teacher Vijay Pandey suffered a brain haemorrhage during the SIR process in Rewa district. He was immediately admitted to the hospital. Pandey is posted as an assistant teacher in Pushparaj Nagar.

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise has been ongoing in Madhya Pradesh’s 230 assembly constituencies since November 4.

There are 5,00,74,500 voters, and 65, 014 polling booths in the state.

–IANS

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