Bengal officer dies by suicide after election workload pressure
A booth-level officer, Shanti Mani, in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, died by suicide allegedly due to work pressure amid the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise—a process related to voter list verification.
Sadly, this is the third such suicide case in a week with two deaths in Rajasthan and Kerala.
Mani's husband shared that her request to quit was denied and language barriers at work made things even harder for her.
Growing concern over SIR workload
Local leaders and Mani's family say the heavy SIR workload and tight deadlines are taking a serious toll on officers' mental health.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at the Election Commission of India for pushing an unrealistic schedule—turning what should be a three-year task into just two months—and said 28 people have died since SIR began.
She urged officials to pause the process before more lives are lost.