60-yr-old BLO dies in Malda, family blames SIR workload
Times of India | 14 March 2026
Malda: After 60-year-old booth-level officer (BLO) Abul Barkat died of a cardiac arrest in Malda on Friday, his family said the retired madrassa teacher had been under immense pressure ever since 579 out of 900 voters in his booth were placed under adjudication.
Barkat complained of severe chest pain on Thursday night. He was rushed to Malda Medical College where he died. He is survived by his wife and three children.
Not a day went by when some or the other voter would come up to him to ask why their names had been marked under adjudication and if they would be allowed to vote, members of Barkat's family said.
The BLO for booth number 513, Barkat had retired from his teaching job on Feb 28 — the same day the Election Commission published the state's voter list which had 60 lakh voters placed under adjudication.
Barkat had been performing his duties as a BLO since Nov 4. When the list was published, it was found that 64.3% of voters in his booth were marked under adjudication. His family said that since the publishing of the list, voters would visit his home everyday with queries.
Barkat was also having to visit administrative offices regularly and work till late in the night processing documents, his family members said.
Barkat's son Hasib Aktar said: "People started threatening my father, holding him responsible for their names being under adjudication. My father worked till late in the night through the month of Ramzan."
"The tremendous workload prevented my father from enjoying his retirement. The EC is responsible for his death," said Aktar.
Barkat is the second BLO to have died in Sujapur in the course of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls. Fifty-five-year-old Anikul Alam died under similar circumstances on Feb 19.
Trinamool district neta Subhomoy Basu blamed BJP and EC for Barkat's death. "This is BJP's design, executed by EC — to leave such a large number of voters under adjudication. They are responsible for these deaths. The number of which has already crossed 143," Basu said.
BJP's Nilanjan Das rejected the allegation. "If anyone is responsible for this death, it is the CM and her administration. They did not cooperate with EC to ensure a smooth process," Das said.
Deceased Barkat's family said 579 out of 900 voters in his booth were marked ‘under adjudication'. They would often visit him at home, some would threaten him