Titagarh BLO jumps from steamer in Barrackpore, rescued by locals

A Booth Level Officer (BLO) jumped into the middle of the Ganga from a passenger launch on Saturday morning while travelling from Srirampur ferry ghat in Hooghly to Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas. Ferry workers immediately rescued him and informed police. The officer, identified as Mohammad Kayamuddin, was later taken to a hospital by personnel from Srirampur police station.

The incident occurred around 11 am when the launch was midstream. According to ferry staff, Kayamuddin suddenly leapt into the river. A worker present on the vessel said they acted swiftly to pull him out. Before jumping, he reportedly left behind a bag containing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) voter list documents and his mobile phone.

Kayamuddin, who is the acting headmaster of a school in Kanchrapara, was serving as a BLO responsible for a booth with 1,245 voters. He later claimed he was unable to cope with the workload related to the SIR process, particularly the digitisation of documents. He said he had informed Election Commission officials about the difficulties but continued to face regular challenges in carrying out the work.

Santosh Kumar Singh, councillor of Ward No. 7 of Srirampur Municipality and Srirampur city Trinamool president, alleged that the rushed SIR process was causing distress among officials and workers. He claimed Kayamuddin was under mental pressure due to technological demands and repeated hearings despite voter mapping. The Election Commission has not issued a statement on the incident.