Two BLOs in Kerala, Rajasthan die by suicide; families allege SIR-related pressure
New Delhi: Two booth-level officers (BLOs) involved in the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls have died by suicide in Kerala and Rajasthan, triggering concerns about rising field-level stress during the voter list update exercise. While families and teachers’ groups have alleged excessive work pressure, district administrations in both states have denied any link between SIR duties and the deaths, citing official data and ongoing inquiries.
In Kerala’s Kannur district, 44-year-old school office assistant and BLO Aneesh George was found dead at his home on Sunday, The Indian Express reported. His family and friends told the newspaper that George had been overwhelmed by the pressure to complete the enumeration work assigned to him under the SIR programme.
George had been allotted the 18th booth in Payyannur taluk, but according to a friend quoted by Express, he was unfamiliar with the area and struggled to distribute the required enumeration forms. Another friend told the paper that George had sought help from booth-level agents of political parties but did not receive support.
However, the Kannur district administration issued a detailed press release rejecting the claim that work pressure contributed to his death. It stated that George’s progress “was consistent with both district and constituency levels” and that “at no stage were special targets, pressures, or deadlines issued to him.”
According to the administration, of the 1,065 enumeration forms in the booth, 825 had been distributed, and although 240 were initially shown as pending, updates on November 15 revealed that only 50 remained because many had been delivered earlier but not digitally marked. As of November 16, the district had completed 87.28 percent of form distribution, slightly below the Kerala average of 91.26 percent.
The administration further stated that initial enquiries by the police and district officials found “no linkage” between SIR duties and the suicide. “The cause of the suicide remains unclear pending further investigation,” the statement said.
Mathrubhumi reported that Kerala’s Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar noted that the revision process is typically completed within 31 days and that no earlier complaints of excessive pressure had been received.
But the panchayat president of Kankol-Alappadamba, M.V. Sunil Kumar, contradicted the official version. Speaking to The Hindu, he said George had been under “extreme pressure” and had repeatedly told superiors that he could not cope with the workload. According to him, officials insisted that the work must be completed regardless.
A similar incident was reported from Rajasthan’s Jaipur district, where 45-year-old Mukesh Jangid, a government school teacher and BLO, died on Sunday after allegedly jumping in front of a train near the Bindayaka railway crossing. Bindayaka SHO Vinod Verma confirmed the incident, though detailed findings are awaited.
According to a PTI report, Jangid’s brother Gajanand claimed to have recovered a suicide note in which Jangid wrote that he was under severe stress due to SIR duties, and that a supervisor had pressured him and threatened suspension.
The Times of India reported that Jangid, a resident of Kalwad village, had been assigned BLO responsibilities in Jaipur’s Jhotwara area.
His death has sparked unrest among teachers’ groups in the state. Rajasthan Primary and Secondary Teachers’ Association president Vipin Prakash Sharma told PTI that competition among administrative divisions to top SIR performance rankings was creating “excessive pressure” on BLOs. He said the association would submit a memorandum to the chief minister urging a halt to undue pressure, especially with half-yearly examinations approaching.
The two deaths, reported from different states within the same 24-hour period—have widened the debate over the stress faced by booth-level officers during the Election Commission’s ongoing voter list revision. While administrations in Kerala and Rajasthan insist no connection has been established, families and teachers’ groups say field officers are being burdened beyond capacity in the push to meet SIR targets.
Both cases remain under investigation.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
