A day after the death by suicide of a booth-level officer (BLO) in Kannur district purportedly due to the heavy workload and mental stress associated with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, thousands of BLOs across the state under the leadership of Congress and Left service organisations boycotted work on Monday and staged protests demanding a deferment of the exercise.
Separate marches were carried out in Thiruvananthapuram by the Action Council of State Government Employees and Teachers, the Kerala NGO Association and the Secretariat Action Council to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rathan U Kelkar.
The marches were blocked by the police leading to scuffles at various spots.
Agitations citing the BLOs’ high workload and the pressure imposed to meet targets by officials above them were also reported in various districts.
At a press conference in the state capital, KP Gopakumar, general secretary of the joint council, refuted the claim of CEO Kelkar that 94.5% of the enumeration forms for the SIR exercise had been distributed across the state.
“BLOs are being forced to upload false data regarding distribution of forms. The Kannur district collector’s report stating that the BLO who died by suicide had only 50 more forms to distribute is also wrong,” he said.
MV Sasidharan, a representation of the NGO Association, added, “BLOs are facing extreme mental stress. It is not humanly possible to do the work that they are being assigned right now. It is quite clear that the SIR cannot be completed within the deadline of December 4. If the ECI does not defer the exercise, we will have to go towards stronger agitations.”
In a statement, the office of Kelkar said that 95.89% of enumeration forms had been distributed until 6 pm on Monday. Forms were distributed to 2,67,05,632 people across the state. “This is not the exact figures as all the BLOs have not uploaded the data. The actual figures would be higher,” the office said.
Meanwhile, in another sign of BLOs facing extreme pressure, an Anganwadi teacher serving as a BLO in Kasaragod district on Monday had to be hospitalised after she collapsed during SIR-related duties.
N Sreeja, an Anganwadi teacher and BLO in Kanhangad constituency, fell ill and collapsed while conducting house-to-house visits in Balal panchayat. She was rushed to a private hospital in Konnakkad where she is undergoing treatment.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on Monday joined other opposition parties in filing a case in the Supreme Court against the SIR exercise.
The petition was filed by IUML national general secretary PK Kunhalikutty who argued that the SIR was violative of the basic principles of the citizens right to vote and also violative of provisions of the COI and the Representation of People’s Act.
He contended that the SIR exercise, being carried out between November 4 and December 4, in Kerala coincides with the conduct of the local body elections and is putting tremendous strain on the state machinery and government officials acting as BLOs. In the petition, he has cited the recent death by suicide of a BLO in Kannur district due to heavy stress.
“There is an unholy haste. What should have been a transparent exercise is being pushed through unilaterally without any consultations with political parties. All parties except the BJP want a voter list that adheres to democratic principles,” Kunhalikutty told reporters.
“(SIR) has resulted in unimaginable pressure being imposed on officials at the grassroot level. They cannot absorb such tremendous pressure. Why is there such a hurry? A person has died (by suicide). I am confident that there will be a positive result,” he added.
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