‘We’re not typists’: West Bengal teachers say Voter SIR work killing them, demand damages as another BLO dies

Anamika Chakraborty’s phone rings constantly. Hundreds of calls at all hours, with requests and complaints. A maths and physical science teacher at a school in Rajarhat, North 24 Parganas, she’s practically on her feet from dawn till dusk, not teaching, but distributing, collecting, verifying, and digitising voter enumeration forms.

“No, we are not taking classes now,” she says, “From morning until late afternoon, all our time is going into the SIR work. We are busy distributing forms, collecting them, checking the forms if they have filled correctly and uploading them on the site.” West Bengal teachers serving as booth-level officers (BLOs) to execute the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter lists on the ground are facing massive pressure, punishing schedules and an unconcerned officialdom.

On Saturday, yet another teacher took her own life, allegedly due to stress related to the SIR. As per reports, Rinku Tarafdar, 54, was found dead at home in Krishnanagar, Nadia district. A teacher at Bangali Swami Vivekananda School, she was a booth level officer, tasked with executing the SIR on the ground.

Furious teacher organisations have demanded that the ECI pays Tarafdar’s family Rs 1 crore and offer a government job to a member as compensation. Earlier in the week, another teacher in Jalpaiguri district killed herself. There are more reports on BLOs collapsing from stress and overwork. Organisations insist that compensation from the EC should become the norm in all cases where BLOs die due to SIR-related work.

“We have always demanded that if SIR has to be completed in the right manner, then it has to be done in a way that’s practical and doable,” said Kinkar Adhikari, a representative of Shikshanuragi United Association. “We are not against SIR but we are against this rush. Previously, the last date was December 4; now they have been given a deadline of November 25. The BLOs are being pressured by the EC office. This is not done; they cannot change the deadline every time. We demand that the EC take responsibility.”

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The chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, had also written to the Election Commission demanding immediate halt on the ongoing SIR exercise, calling the pressure on BLOs “inhuman” and that the current pace of work is impossible to complete without risking more tragedies

Teachers as BLOs: Tight deadlines, threats

In the past, Anganwadi workers in early childhood care and education (ECCE) centres formed the bulk of the BLOs. They continue to fulfil that role in remote or underserved areas. However, this year, the bulk of the responsibility has fallen to secondary and primary school teachers, pushing them into door-to-door verification, form distribution, and digital uploading at a pace they say they were never trained to handle.

“For many, the sudden transition has not only disrupted academic schedules but has also created an exhausting new routine dominated by malfunctioning apps, repeated field visits, and mounting pressure to meet daily targets,” said Chakraborty, who teaches at Bhatenda Annakali Smriti Mandir Girls High School in Rajarhar, North 24 Parganas.

Chakraborty has taught for 18 years.

In addition to the tight deadlines, there are warnings and threats from officials.

“From the very first day, we have been asking the EC why it is pressurising the BLOs to do the work in just 15 days, when it can only be done properly in three-four months,” said Adhikari adding, “They are being threatened that if they do not complete their work they will lose their job. The Electoral Registration Officers or EROs are constantly using these words to threaten the BLOs. The EC is least bothered about the life of the workers at the ground level who are doing the main work.”

Protest against voter name deletions in the ECI SIR exercise (Image: PTI)

Special Intensive Revision: App slow, glitchy

For all the speed the ECI insists on, the technology it has provided isn’t up to scratch.

“The app is too slow,” said Chakraborty. “When we are working on the app and a call comes, whatever we update gets lost and we need to start all over again. The training we were given was not enough.”

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The ECI’s SIR process demands that BLO conduct door-to-door visits, verify filled-up forms, collect supporting documents and photographs, and then digitise everything using a mobile app. The system is meant to make the voter roll more accurate. But in practice, many teachers feel under-equipped, under-prepared, and overwhelmed.

Sanjay Kumar Nashkar, a Bangla teacher from Class 6 to Class 10 in Ramnagar High School, South 24 Parganas and now a BLO, talks of countless occasions when he had typed in data, only for an incoming call to erase it, forcing him to start all over. Such erratic behavior means what should be a straightforward job turns into a daily battle with technology.

“We are not typists,” he said, “We are teachers. But now we have to become data-entry operators, and on a phone.”

The mobile application meant to simplify the process has added layers of stress instead. Teachers talk about repeated freezes, and frustrating delays. The sessions they attended were rushed, and not organised properly. There were no practical drills, no mock uploads under realistic conditions, just a hurried walk-through followed by a push into the field. When questions arise, “we are left to figure things out among ourselves or call other teachers for help,” said Nashkar.

West Bengal Schools: ‘Students are calling’

Thanks to the SIR, Nashkar was forced to rush through sections of the syllabus, especially the Bengali grammar part.

“Students have begun calling, worried they don’t understand the grammar lessons, which they feel were covered too quickly. I had to do it because they are okay with any other teacher teaching the prose or the poetry section, but not grammar,” he said.

His school, with nearly 2,000 students, faces another crisis – teacher shortage. Their chemistry teacher has retired but he continues to come twice a week to help the students without pay.

Meanwhile, SIR duty extends well into the exam season. According to Naskar, the first phase of the enumeration work ends on December 4, but a second phase continues up to January 31 the time students normally prepare for final exams.

Manmohan Mandal, head teacher at a school in Medinipur West, complained about how the SIR has upended normal school life. With only 13 staff members (including three non-teaching), his school staff is already stretched thin. Worse, there are no dedicated mathematics or science teachers leaving Mandal himself to teach both to Classes 5 to 10.

With SIR on, he said, “I start work at 6 am which continues till 9 pm. Then I go home and upload forms.”

The pressure is relentless. First, distribute the SIR forms; then, revisit homes to collect them, verify every detail and finally digitise everything. In his village of 450 voters, family names are scattered across different serial numbers in the electoral list, making it hard to track who belongs to which household. Sorting them, verifying relations, and ensuring form accuracy requires multiple visits. Even then, many forms come back incomplete, without photographs, or with other errors forcing yet another round of visits, he said.

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