A BLO in Rajasthan has allegedly threatened to kill himself due to the pressure on him to delete Muslim votes in seats BJP won with thin margins.
Kirti Kumar, a BLO, in Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal assembly constituency, says he is being threatened and pushed beyond capacity to look into BJP’s objections seeking the deletion of 470 voters – nearly 40 percent of his booth – from the draft electoral rolls published after the Special Intensive Revision. He alleged these requests target Muslim voters and that he had already verified all these voters, according to News Laundry.
The report pointed out that at least three BLOs have died in Rajasthan amid allegations about work pressure and the way the SIR was conducted, from app glitches to inadequate training.
In a video clip which has went viral on social media, he was heard shouting over a phone call, “I will visit the collector’s office and will kill myself there."
In the clip on social media, Kumar can be heard telling BJP councillor Suresh Saini over the phone: “Maybe I should remove voters from the entire basti, that can help you as well as Maharaj win the election comfortably.”
"Maharaj" refers to BJP MLA Balmukund Acharya who won in the 2023 assembly elections from Hawa Mahal, a Muslim-majority constituency, by a margin of just 974 votes. Acharya, the chief priest of Jaipur’s Dakshinmukhiji Balaji Temple, has since drawn repeated controversy over actions and remarks ostensibly targeting Muslims, the report said.
Kumar, who is a teacher at a government school, said the SIR process has affected his students and now he is pressured to process the 470 forms 'within two days'. He said the whole process will take 78 hours and added that it is 'like repeating the entire exercise again'.
“And then I have to hit the ground again to verify these voters. This is like repeating the entire exercise again. I cannot do this. Humara pehle hi khoon jal gaya SIR mai…BJP politicians are threatening us that they will get us suspended. I know their politics very well. I have informed my seniors that I cannot do this," reported News Laundry.
Meanwhile, BLOs from at least five neighbouring booths, where most voters are Hindu, said they had received no objections.
Saraswati Meena, the BLO of another booth in the area, said objections had been filed against 158 voters. She alleged that BJP agents had raised all the objections and that they targeted Muslim voters.
Meena said the voters lived in the area and had already been verified under the SIR, "We have done their verification in the SIR. This is wrong. We cannot be pressured this way," she said.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)