MEERUT: A headmaster working as an assistant booth-level officer for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls died of a heart attack in Sambhal district on Monday, becoming the eighth person to die during SIR duty in Uttar Pradesh in 10 days, with three of them taking their own lives. The family of Arvind Kumar, 40, a resident of Chaukuuni village in Nakhasa police station limits of Sambhal, claimed he had been under immense stress due to the mounting pressure of the revision work assigned to him. He is survived by his wife, Pratibha, and two children—13-year-old daughter Garima and 10-year-old son Lavish—who study at a school in Amroha district.
Kumar was posted as headmaster at the govt primary school in Faiyaznagar village under Hasanpur block of Amroha district. A family member said, “His wife, Pratibha, tried to wake him early on Monday morning, but he remained unresponsive. We called villagers for help, but he had died by the time they arrived.”Lal Singh, Kumar’s brother-in-law and also his working partner during the SIR exercise, confirmed that he was actively on duty as an assistant for the revision of voter lists. Singh said there was significant pressure on BLOs to meet targets and that the urgency around the work had deeply affected Kumar. He added, “If Election Commissioner Gyanesh Prakash had extended the deadline earlier—like it has now been extended till Dec 11 — this incident would not have occurred. If more time had been given earlier, there would not have been this much pressure.”Though headmasters mainly handle school administration, they are often put on BLO duty as per Election Commission rules that allow govt teachers in Group C and above to be deployed. While Allahabad high court in Feb 2025 said teachers should be used only if no other staff are available, elections-related work continues to be assigned to them in UP due to limited manpower.Before Kumar’s death, seven BLOs had died during SIR work in UP. Of these, three died by suicide. In Moradabad, 40-year-old Sarvesh Singh, an assistant teacher, left a suicide note describing his distress over digital form uploads, sleeplessness, and fear of job loss. In Fatehpur, 27-year-old lekhpal Sudhir Kumar Kuril allegedly took his life a day before his wedding after being threatened with dismissal.On the same day, Vipin Yadav, 35, an assistant teacher from Gonda, allegedly consumed poison; a video recorded by his wife mentioned pressure from officials. Four others died of medical causes. Shobha Rani, 56, a BLO in Bijnor, collapsed after days of illness and extended working hours. Sarvesh Kumar Gangwar, 47, from Bareilly, died of cardiac arrest; Vijay Kumar Verma, 40, a shiksha mitra in Lucknow, died of a brain haemorrhage; and Ranju Dubey, 44, a shiksha mitra in Deoria, also died of a heart attack. Despite growing concern, the chief electoral office of UP has not issued any official response.
