While the district administration maintains it has heard “no complaints of work pressure,” BLOs protesting in the aftermath of the death across the state continue to detail an exhausting environment marked by unrealistic targets, coercion and constant fear of reprimand.
Published Nov 18, 2025 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 18, 2025 | 8:00 AM
A protest march carried out by the joint council towards the Chief Electoral Officer-Kerala office in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
Synopsis: The contentious Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls currently underway in Kerala has become the centre of a political storm after a BLO in Kannur died by suicide, allegedly due to intense work pressure to complete the exercise. On Monday, thousands of BLOs boycotted SIR work and launched protests across the state alongside political parties and service organisations. While the administration has maintained that Aneesh faced no undue stress, political leaders have demanded a halt to the exercise.
The death of Aneesh George, a Booth Level Officer (BLO) in the Payyanur constituency in Kannur on 16 November, allegedly due to the intense workload of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Kerala, has pushed an already contentious exercise into the centre of a political storm.
Even as political parties have moved the Supreme Court seeking a halt to the SIR until December’s local body elections, Aneesh’s death has become the face of a larger crisis, as BLOs across the state come forward to describe an exhausting world of unrealistic targets, coercion and constant fear of reprimand.
While the district administration maintains it has heard “no complaints of work pressure,” BLOs protesting in the aftermath of the death across the state continue to detail an exhausting environment marked by unrealistic targets, coercion and constant fear of reprimand.
Despite widespread complaints about glitches in the SIR process, the numbers show both the scale and the remarkable progress of Kerala’s ongoing update of the voters’ list.
With 2,78,50,855 electors in the state, a large on-ground network of 24,468 BLOs and 54,624 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) has been deployed to reach every household.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer, by 6 pm on 17 November, the 14th day of form distribution, 2,67,05,632 people—95.89 percent of electors—had already received their enumeration forms.
An SIR camp at Attapady tribal settlement in Palakkad.
But the progress has come at a steep cost. On the ground, BLOs—many of them women Anganwadi and ASHA workers—describe an environment marked by impossible targets, falsified reporting, harassment and crippling workloads.
“I distribute forms during the day and cry at night. We are collapsing under triple workload – SIR, panchayat election duty, and household chores,” said a woman BLO from Thrissur, who also works at an Anganwadi.
A BLO with 1,400 voters carries nearly 2,800 A4 sheets into the field. Houses often have to be visited multiple times, sometimes thrice, because forms arrive in batches on different days.
“Closed houses, houses with dogs, people who refuse to open doors… some even ask us to return later as if we are saleswomen,” said a BLO in Palakkad.
Village officers and sectoral officers, who supervise BLOs while also coordinating local body election duties, are also fraying.
“The next suicide will be a village officer,” one warned, pointing to round-the-clock meetings and pressure from the Chief Electoral Officer to finish SIR alongside election responsibilities.
The death of Kannur BLO Aneesh George has shaken the community. In WhatsApp groups of officials, the grief turned into guilt. One message read:
“Each of us is a partner in Aneesh’s death. No one can distribute 100 forms a day normally. But we were forced to show fake numbers – even 1,400 forms in days. This madness killed him.”
A woman BLO recently filed a police complaint after a voter grabbed her shawl, demanding that she “prove her identity.”
The worst pressure comes from the top: supervisors directing BLOs to falsify daily distribution numbers to satisfy district collectors.
“We were told: even if you haven’t distributed, submit fake figures,” said another BLO.
“Then we must actually achieve those fake targets too. It is torture,” added the officer.
Many BLOs questioned the need for the rushed exercise.
“If we had two more weeks, this tragedy could have been avoided,” said a senior officer.
Thousands of BLOs and state government service organisations launched protests across the state on Monday in the aftermath of Aneesh’s death. A day earlier, a joint council had called for boycotting SIR work in protest against the tragedy.
BLOs carrying out a protest march in Idukki on Monday.
Under the banners of both Left- and Congress-affiliated organisations, employees marched to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Kerala, in Thiruvananthapuram and held demonstrations across districts, demanding that the Election Commission of India defer the SIR until after the local body elections.
Police blocked the main protest march near the Kerala Legislative Assembly, even as the Joint Council of State Service Organisations criticised the Election Commission for “ignoring ground realities” and imposing an “inhumane deadline” for completing the massive exercise.
The council accused the CEO and the Kannur District Collector, also the District Electoral Officer, of “peddling misleading data” and playing down the circumstances that led to George’s death.
They rejected the CEO’s claim that 94.5 percent of forms had been distributed, alleging that BLOs were pressured into uploading false completion data.
The release of a notice from Nenmara and Alathur warning BLOs of punitive action if forms were not fully distributed by 15 November further reinforced their allegations.
Service organisations highlighted that the SIR officially began on 4 November, but BLOs received the required enumeration forms only after 9 November, leaving just six days to distribute between 900 and 1,500 forms per booth.
They said BLOs, many of them women, were being forced to walk through remote areas late into the night, balancing SIR duties with responsibilities connected to the ongoing local body elections.
The Joint Council warned that mismanagement by the Election Commission had created an untenable situation in which employees were performing two sets of election duties simultaneously, causing severe mental stress.
Organisations demanded an immediate halt to the SIR, an impartial inquiry into Aneesh George’s death and emergency financial assistance for his family.
Union leaders said that while they held a boycott protest on 17 November, the future course of action will be decided in the coming days as they consider steps to address the mounting workload.
Aneesh’s death has also snowballed into a political fight between the opposition Congress and the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)].
An all-party meeting convened by the CEO-Kerala to discuss the SIR exercise on 15 November.
Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan alleged that CPI(M) workers directly contributed to the circumstances that drove Aneesh to end his life, claiming that he was subjected to threats for permitting a Congress Booth Level Agent to accompany him during SIR duties.
Satheesan said this pressure, combined with what he described as “inhuman” workloads imposed on BLOs, had pushed Aneesh to a breaking point.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Sunny Joseph MLA echoed the allegations, demanding a “serious, objective investigation” into the death and asserting that Aneesh faced clear political intimidation from the CPI(M).
Citing a purported phone conversation by Aneesh before his death, Joseph alleged that CPI(M) workers threatened to file a false complaint accusing him of colluding with Congress workers and distributing pamphlets.
The Congress has now extended full support to the statewide strike by BLOs protesting the crushing workload, with many reporting repeated household visits, unrealistic deadlines and booths with up to 1,500 voters.
The CPI(M), however, dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.
Party state secretary MV Govindan acknowledged that BLOs were under intense pressure due to the Election Commission’s rigid SIR norms, but rejected any suggestion of political coercion, calling the opposition’s accusations “absurd” and an attempt to help the BJP.
CPI(M) Kannur district secretary KK Ragesh also referred to similar suicides elsewhere in the country, attributing the crisis to systemic issues rather than party interference.
Officials at multiple levels, from the CEO to the Kannur District Electoral Officer (DEO), have firmly rejected allegations that BLO Aneesh George died due to work pressure arising from the ongoing SIR of the voters’ list.
In a condolence statement on 16 November, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer described Aneesh as a “sincere and dedicated official” and said the election machinery had ensured that BLOs received necessary support and faced no undue hardships during the revision process.
Kannur’s District Electoral Officer also issued a detailed clarification, stating that Aneesh’s work progress was well within expected limits.
Of the 1,065 Enumeration Forms (EFs) allotted to him, 825 had already been distributed, while many of the pending ones were found to have been delivered but not updated digitally.
Only around 50 forms remained on the morning of 16 November, reflecting a “satisfactory level of progress,” the DEO said. The district administration asserted that adequate facilitation, including additional staff from the Revenue Department and vehicle support, had been provided throughout the SIR exercise.
Officials overseeing the process, including the ERO, Additional ERO and the Booth Level Supervisor, confirmed that no special targets, deadlines or pressure were imposed on Aneesh or any other BLO.
According to the DEO, the supervisor had contacted Aneesh on the morning of the incident to check if he needed assistance, to which he reportedly responded that he could complete the remaining work himself.
Preliminary police findings also indicated no signs of coercion, external injuries or suspicious circumstances, and no suicide note was recovered.
Kankol-Alappadamba panchayat president MV Sunil Kumar has strongly disputed the district administration’s stand.
He claimed Aneesh had been under “extreme pressure,” repeatedly telling his superiors that he was struggling to manage the responsibilities.
According to him, Aneesh, handling BLO duties for the first time, found the task overwhelming and was even coordinating local youth to meet the demands.
The president alleged that higher officials were pressing him to clear pending forms and lead a collection camp, adding that Aneesh had been suffering sleepless nights and loss of appetite due to the workload.
He argued that shifting BLO duties to last-grade staff without field experience had made the job significantly more stressful.
Close on the heels of the death of BLO Aneesh George in Kannur, two more incidents have raised questions about the official stand of no pressure.
In Kasaragod’s Balal panchayat, 45-year-old Anganwadi teacher and BLO N Sreeja collapsed during house visits for SIR duties and was hospitalised, though her condition is improving.
Meanwhile, in Kozhikode, the Sub-Collector has issued a show-cause notice to Aslam, a senior PWD clerk serving as BLO, for distributing forms to only 390 of the 954 voters assigned to him, an alleged dereliction of duty that could invite action under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
The Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) have moved the Supreme Court against what they describe as an ill-timed and impractical exercise.
KPCC President Sunny Joseph on 17 November accused the Election Commission of attempting to “overhaul the voter list” during the local body poll season with “malicious intent,” overburdening BLOs and risking disenfranchisement, even of those who voted in the last Lok Sabha election.
The IUML, in its petition filed by PK Kunhalikutty on 17 November, argued that the Special Intensive Revision period from 4 November to 4 December deliberately overlaps with local body elections, pushing the state machinery to breaking point and causing large-scale exclusion, especially of NRI voters who cannot be present for physical verification.
The party highlighted the 13-hour workdays of BLOs, the requirement for repeated house visits and the alarming suicides of BLOs, including one in Kerala and another in Rajasthan, citing the workload as a trigger.
It contended that the SIR amounts to a “de-novo verification” despite Kerala completing a full revision in January 2025, making the fresh exercise unnecessary.
Both parties said recent BLO suicides highlight the untenable workload and insisted there is no administrative need for reopening the rolls so soon after the January 2025 revision.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
