Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose calls for detailed probe into BLO Shanti Muni Ekka's suicide amid SIR pressure.
Banerjee shares suicide note blaming ECI's "unplanned" 3-year process in 2 months; third such death in Bengal, demands SIR halt to prevent voter deletions targeting minorities
National row with 16 BLO deaths across states, Congress slams BJP's "vote theft deadly turn," TMC plans SIR review meeting; BJP hits back at Banerjee's "zero credibility" claims
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Sunday urged restraint and called for a detailed examination of the alleged suicides among Booth Level Officers (BLOs) amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, following Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's sharp criticism of the Election Commission of India (ECI) for imposing "unplanned" workloads. The governor's appeal for avoiding "knee-jerk reactions" came as tensions escalated over the death of BLO Shanti Muni Ekka in Malda, whose family attributed her suicide to immense pressure from the SIR process, a nationwide exercise compressing a three-year task into two months ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.
Banerjee, who shared a purported suicide note on X blaming the ECI for "crushing pressure," demanded an immediate halt to the SIR, warning of "irreversible consequences" and accusing it of being a tool for voter deletions targeting marginalized communities like the Matuas. This marks the third such incident in Bengal, with two earlier cases in Jalpaiguri and Krishnanagar, where another BLO, Rinku Tarafdar, allegedly left a note implicating the ECI.
Bose, expressing confidence in the ECI's "balanced outlook," emphasized patience in such sensitive matters, stating, "What the chief minister has pointed out has to be examined in detail." The controversy has drawn national attention, with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge slamming the BJP for turning "vote theft deadly" after reports of 16 BLO deaths across six states, including three in Bengal, and Rahul Gandhi decrying "chaos under the garb of SIR." The BJP dismissed Banerjee's claims as having "zero credibility," accusing her of peddling lies to deflect from governance failures.
