On a ruled sheet of paper torn out from a school exercise book, a note, neatly written in blue ink, in Bengali held an ominous message: “I cannot bear this inhuman workload any longer.”

Rinku Tarafdar, the Booth Level Officer (BLO) in electoral booth no 201, Chapra in Krishnanagar Assembly Constituency in West Bengal, died by suicide on November 21. The 51-year-old schoolteacher’s two-page suicide note made it clear what had caused her death.

“I hold the Election Commission responsible for my current distress,” she wrote, adding, “I am not affiliated to any political party.”

BLOs like Tarafdar, namely government school teachers and government employees, have been appointed by the Election Commission of India (EC) to carry out the mammoth Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. 

India has 960 million registered voters – more than any other country in the world. The SIR exercise has been rolled out across 12 states covering 510 million voters, making it the largest electoral roll revision in history. Aimed at retaining genuine voters on the electoral rolls, the SIR has run into much controversy, especially in crucial election bound states like West Bengal. 

West Bengal goes to the polls in March-April 2026. The looming election has meant unrealistically tight deadlines. BLOs were required to do in one month (November 4 to December 4), a task that normally would take close to a year. 

BLOs were expected to distribute personalized enumeration forms to individual voters, then collect the forms and verify the voter names with the 2002 voter list. Finally, they were required to digitally upload every single voter’s information. 

The SIR-induced work pressure has so far allegedly caused the death of 16 BLOs across the country, including three in West Bengal. Rinku Tarafdar was one of those three. 

Tarafdar taught bioscience at the local high school, Vivekananda Vidyamandir at Bangaljhi, Chapra. A “para teacher” (meaning contractual staff), she had been teaching since 2003. Before the SIR began, she was happy with her life: a son pursuing a physics Ph.D., a married daughter, a husband who owned a petrol pump in Krishnanagar. She wrote in the note, “This is a contented phase of my life… I wanted to live but they [the EC] didn’t let me.”

Tarafdar wrote in the note that she met the supervisor and the Block Development Officer requesting to be excused from BLO duty since she was not tech savvy. Her pleas were ignored. Rinku wrote that she had completed nearly 95 percent of the “offline job.” The “online part” – scrupulously digitizing the elector information from the forms – she was unable to carry out. 

Tarafdar made it a point to mention that the forms were in the safe custody of the adjoining BLO Sushanto Biswas of booth 202. She thanked all who helped her, especially Biswas for selflessly coming to her aid. Tarafdar mentioned her two children several times in the note and how she loved them, while stating that it was painful to leave them. 

It is evident from conversations with her family that the daily news of BLOs being issued show cause notices by the Election Commission and having First Information Reports (police cases) being filed against them for dereliction of duty, had impacted her. Tarafdar panicked, thinking she too would be penalized for not being able to fulfil her BLO duty. 

Tarafdar’s husband, Ashis Tarafdar, is still trying to make sense of the tragedy. He described Rinku as a righteous person, a conscientious worker who did not like being dependent on others. He mentioned that lately his wife had been constantly stressed and talked often of “oshombhom chaap” (excessive work pressure). 

Primary school teacher Sushanto Biswas – the fellow BLO whom she thanked profusely in her note –  refers to Rinku Tarafdar as “Didimoni” (beloved elder sister). Biswas said that Tarafdar was a respected figure in the neighborhood. He had known her for decades, since the time he was a youngster. He remembers her as an upright and sincere person. 

“Didimoni was a very honest human being, straightforward, simple; and preferred to keep to herself.” He said he did his best to help her out since he was more familiar with the 201 election booth, having been a BLO there for several years. Biswas’ “biggest regret” is........

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