Rajakata (Bengal): Twelve days since the publication of the draft electoral rolls, a booth-level officer (BLO) in Bengal has died, allegedly by suicide. A note he purportedly wrote before taking his life says that he could not bear the pressure of the the special intensive revision exercise.Haradhan Mandal was 52 years old and the BLO of booth number 206 of the Ranibandh assembly constituency at Rajakata village in the Jangalmahal region of West Bengal. Police have said after preliminary investigation that it appears that his death took place by suicide. His post-mortem report is awaited. This looks to be the first unnatural death of a BLO since the publication of the draft voter rolls.Haradhan died on the afternoon of December 28 at the Majherpara Primary School in Rajakata village. He was the headmaster of the school.Locals found a note beside the body, which was recovered by the Ranibandh Police and which The Wire has received an image of. In the note, he wrote, “I can no longer bear the pressure. Goodbye. I alone am responsible for this BLO work; no one else is involved. The mistake is mine. Despite doing everything right, I still went wrong. Please forgive me.”Haradhan leaves behind a wife, elderly mother, and a son, who is a college student.Also read: ‘SIR Turning Into a Death Trap for BLOs’: SPECT Foundation Report‘People respected him deeply’Located about 230 kilometres from Kolkata, Rajakata is surrounded by forests, at the southern edge of the Jangalmahal region. Haradhan had been serving as a teacher at the Majherpara Primary school for years.“He was extremely popular as a teacher. Beyond his professional work, he was also actively involved in social work in the village. People respected him deeply,” said Lab Mandal, a local and former Sabhapati of the Ranibandh Panchayat Samity, the block-level elected authority.The Wire visited the village on Monday afternoon and learnt that booth number 206 had 953 registered voters. In the new draft electoral rolls, the names of 14 voters were removed from the list due to death or relocation.Additionally, 103 voters were issued notices and called for hearings as they were marked as ‘unmapped’. The hearing process was scheduled to begin on December 29.‘Kept a close watch on students’ education’According to villagers, the Majherpara Primary School has 106 students and three teachers. Students’ attendance at the school is reported to be consistently good. “Haradhan Mandal always kept a close watch on students’ education and academic progress,” said Uttam Sardar, a resident of the village. Uttam said that even before SIR work began, an atmosphere of fear had developed in the Jangalmahal region over whose names would remain on the voter list and whose would be removed. It is mostly the poor and daily-wage earners – and also a large number of migrant workers – who live in the Rajakata village.“Haradhan Mandal was doing SIR work while also running the school. We could sense that he was working under immense pressure,” Uttam said.The headmaster of the school has to send mid-day meal information of the students to a specific app at the fixed time every day. All headmasters who are serving as BLOs are also required to do this. On top of that, SIR work has been unrelenting. “Even in this situation, Haradhan went door to door in the village, distributing SIR forms, helping people fill them out correctly and collecting them,” said Amar Mahali, a resident of Rajakata village.‘This consumed him’Haradhan’s wife, Anganwadi worker Mala Mandal, said that the stress was extraordinary.“My husband worked incredibly hard. He often said that the SIR work was extremely stressful, and if he did not do it properly, it could create problems at his job or even lead to punishment. This consumed him,” said Mala. Their son Sohan Mandal is studying English honours at Khatra College. Mala also juggles responsibilities. In addition to working at the Rajakata Anganwadi center, she was also in charge of the Nachna village Anganwadi centre about four kilometres away. Her elderly mother-in-law lives with them.“Even in these circumstances, my husband went to school every day and worked for the SIR until midnight. He did his work meticulously; there were no mistakes in it. But mentally, he was breaking down inside. He did not let anyone notice,” Mala said.‘High blood pressure and diabetes’Before he took his life, Haradhan had been consumed with pre-hearing work.“My son suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes. On Sunday morning around 9 am, he left home. He was supposed to return by 10 am to have his tiffin and take his medicine, but he did not come back at that time,” said his mother Kalpana.“When I saw he was late, I went out to look for him and went to the school. The room where my son usually sat was found unlocked; the school keys were with him. When I entered the room, I found that he had taken his own life,” the grieving mother said.When asked about the incident, Ranibandh’s Block Development Officer (BDO) Asmita Yosh said she will not comment on the matter.After this incident, several BLOs of Bankura district stated that after the publication of the draft voter list, BLOs were being asked to correct errors such as missing names or mistakes in names across various areas quickly. During the hearings, a Union government employee would be present for such cases, adding to the fear of job-related consequences.Additionally, BLOs were required to upload all this information via their mobile phones, despite not having received proper digital training. As a result, even minor mistakes caused panic. On top of this, there is constant pressure came from concern blocks and higher authorities.If you know someone – friend or family member – at risk of suicide, please reach out to them. The Suicide Prevention India Foundation maintains a list of telephone numbers they can call to speak in confidence. Icall, a counselling service run by TISS, has maintained a crowdsourced list of therapists across the country. You could also take them to the nearest hospital.