India Poll Workers Protest Harsh Conditions After Deaths
At least a dozen Indian poll workers have died since the Election Commission launched a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls on 4 November, prompting fresh criticism of the grueling workload imposed on booth‑level officers (BLOs).
One of the fatalities was Sarvesh Kumar, a school teacher from Uttar Pradesh, whose family says a video recorded before his death shows him weeping about the pressure to finish his SIR duties. \“I have not been able to sleep for twenty days. If I had time, I would have finished this work,\” he says in the clip.
The SIR drive aims to update the rolls of more than five hundred million voters across twelve states and union territories within a one‑month deadline. BLOs – usually teachers, junior staff and contract workers – are tasked with door‑to‑door verification, data entry and uploading forms, often while juggling regular teaching responsibilities.
According to the BBC, ten BLOs in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal reported working fourteen to fifteen hours a day with minimal rest and meagre pay. The strain has sparked outrage after deaths linked to the exercise, including the suicides of Arvindbhai Vadher, a primary‑school teacher in Gujarat, and the sudden passing of school principal Rameshbhai Parmar, whose daughter says he worked through the night without eating.
Opposition leaders have accused the Election Commission and state governments of rushing the exercise, contrasting the current one‑month timeline with the six‑month period used in the 2002‑03 revision. The Commission has denied the allegations, calling them “false, exaggerated and politically motivated” and has yet to answer detailed BBC queries.
Manisha Kumari, a thirty‑five‑year‑old teacher in Noida, claims she has not had a day off since the SIR began, juggling early‑morning household chores, classroom duties and late‑night data uploads on an app that frequently crashes. \”Any short break I get is spent tracking down people who were not at home when I first visited,\” she told the BBC.
Many teachers fear that absenting themselves from classrooms harms students, while some BLOs say they continue despite health risks for fear of legal action. Recent reports indicate Uttar Pradesh officials have filed cases against poll workers for alleged negligence, and workers in other states report threats of jail or job loss for refusing assignments.
The Election Commission has doubled BLO pay from six thousand to twelve thousand rupees and increased supervisors’ salaries, adding a six‑thousand‑rupee incentive for the SIR. Nevertheless, several workers say they have not received any payment and are forced to use personal funds and mobile phones for the task.
India’s Supreme Court has directed states to deploy extra staff to ease the workload, but implementation remains uneven. As the deadline was extended by a week to 11 December, families of deceased workers and rights groups continue to urge the commission to review the schedule and improve conditions.
The episode echoes concerns in Ghana, where election officials have faced scrutiny over workload and remuneration during voter‑registration drives, underscoring the need for balanced staffing and adequate support in any large‑scale electoral exercise.
Image Source: MYJOYONLINE
