The Supreme Court of India on Monday, December 1, 2025, took serious note of a plea regarding Anganwadi workers in Tamil Nadu being pushed into Booth Level Officer (BLO) duties during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, said these workers face "severe pressure" to meet "targets" for distributing enumeration forms. He added they are threatened with three months’ imprisonment under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, if targets are missed and risk losing their jobs. "There have already been 21 instances of BLOs taking their own lives," Mr. Sankaranarayanan told the Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant. The Chief Justice responded, "You are saying Anganwadi workers should not be employed in the SIR exercise..." Mr. Sankaranarayanan noted the issue is more human than legal. The enumeration phase, originally ending December 4, has been extended to December 11, 2025. This plea follows complaints about "inhuman workload and coercive pressure" on BLOs causing cardiac arrests and deaths during the SIR. Deaths among BLOs have also been reported in several states including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. Earlier, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party criticized the process for lacking due process and having an unreasonably short timeline, calling it a violation of the Constitution's federal structure. The Supreme Court is set to take up this issue separately in upcoming hearings on the Tamil Nadu SIR.