West Bengal is currently witnessing a distressing wave among its Booth Level Officers (BLOs), who are on the frontlines of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being managed by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Between Saturday and Sunday, four BLOs were rushed to hospitals across various districts after falling ill from the crushing workload. This alarming news comes just after a third BLO in the state tragically died by suicide on Saturday. The 53-year-old para teacher from Chapra, Nadia district, left behind a note blaming the ECI for the pressure she faced. This has sparked a fierce political dispute. Among those hospitalized is Sukdeb Das, the BLO for polling booth No. 147 in Katwa town, East Burdwan district. From his hospital bed, Das opened up about the grueling workload. "The work pressure is so intense that I was feeling unwell and even dizzy at times. Collecting the enumeration forms from voters is taking long hours and after that we have to feed the data online. Can anyone work for 18 hours a day?" he questioned. However, Katwa's subdivisional officer, Anirban Basu, defended the process, denying any excess pressure. "We are only following the guidelines of the ECI. He could not collect the forms on time and I went to the field with him on Friday to help him," Basu told media. On Saturday night, two more BLOs, Tanushree Haldar Naiya (booth No. 19, Sonarpur) and Kamal Naskar (booth No. 31, Joynagar), both in South 24 Parganas district, were admitted to hospitals. In Murshidabad’s Jangipur, BLO Kaushik Ghosh collapsed and was hospitalized, while in North Dinajpur’s Islampur, BLO Mostafa Kamal was also admitted and expressed despair, saying, "The target given to us for uploading the online data is impossible. I am doing it from the hospital now." Despite these harsh realities, West Bengal’s chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal remained silent, offering no comments. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reacted strongly last week, writing to the Chief Election Commissioner to pause the SIR due to the heavy pressure on BLOs. She posted on X, "Profoundly shocked to know of the death of yet another BLO, a lady para- teacher, who has committed suicide at Krishnanagar today. BLO of part number 201 of AC 82 Chapra, has blamed ECI in her suicide note before committing suicide at her residence today." The political heat is rising with Assembly elections expected in March-April 2026. West Bengal has about 76 million voters, 80,681 polling booths, and an equal number of BLOs. Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee lashed out, “Inhuman pressure is being created on the BLOs by ECI. And the BJP leaders are using the ECI.” On the other side, Bengal BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar dismissed these claims as baseless, stating, "Banerjee has lost his mind because it is the TMC that is under pressure. People of Bengal do not believe in these allegations. They want the SIR." Adding to the unrest, various BLOs have protested over the past weeks, highlighting the unbearable workload. For example, Tapati Biswas, an Anganwadi worker in Hooghly’s Konnagar, was hospitalized after a cerebral attack, and in North 24 Parganas, BLO Suman Das fainted due to pressure. Tragically, the first BLO death this season was Namita Hansda from East Burdwan district, who died of a cerebral attack on November 9, with her husband alleging stress as a major factor. This string of health crises and deaths paints a vivid picture of the heavy toll the electoral roll revision process is taking on those who carry the task on their shoulders.