UP BLO hangs self under SIR work pressure; 'not enough time,' reads his suicide letter

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A 46-year-old booth-level officer (BLO) hanged himself in the storage room of his home in Baheri village of UP's Mordabad because of work pressure, police said on Sunday.

Sarvesh Singh was an assistant teacher and was posted in a school in Bhagatpur Tanda village. He was assigned the duty of a BLO on October 7. It was his first time working as a BLO.

According to police, around 4 am, Sarvesh's wife Babli found that her husband had hanged himself.

In a suicide note Sarvesh confessed to feeling suffocated and said there was not enough time for the job he had been given.

"BLO Sarvesh Singh has committed suicide and has left behind a suicide note stating that the he is unable to cope with the burden of BLO duty. His body has been sent for post-mortem," Circle Officer (Thakurdwara) Ashish Pratap Singh said.

Besides his wife, the couple's four daughters survive him. A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway in several states, including Uttar Pradesh. The behemoth exercise seems to have taken a toll on many government workers roped in to weed out inaccuracies and prepare voter lists with only genuine voters.

On Saturday, a 42-year-old BLO engaged in the SIR collapsed at his home in Rajasthan's Dholpur and died.

Anuj Garg collapsed late Saturday night while uploading voter data. His family alleged he had been working under extreme pressure, police said.