A booth-level officer died allegedly by suicide in West Bengal’s Bankura district on Sunday, reported The Indian Express.
In a note found near his body, 53-year-old Haradhan Mandal said that mounting stress related to the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in the state had led him to take the step, the newspaper quoted unidentified police officials as saying.
Mandal’s body was found by his family inside a classroom of a school, where he was the headmaster.
He was the booth-level officer for booth number 206 in Rajakata village of the Ranibandh block.
His family members alleged that he had been suffering from depression because of being unable to cope with the “immense workload” of the voter roll revision exercise.
“My father was suffering from various physical ailments,” Mandal’s son, Soham Mandal, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “Despite that, he used to work on the SIR until 3 am or 4 am. On top of that, there were various other forms causing mental pressure.”
Soham Mandal said that his father “could no longer bear this mental strain”.
Haradhan Mandal’s wife, Mala Mandal, claimed that he had not received help for the work related to the voter roll revision and “was forced to take this step”.
His body has been sent for post-mortem, reported The Hindu.
With this, at least 10 suicides of booth-level officers…
Source: West Bengal: Another BLO dies allegedly by suicide, blames SIR work pressure in note
