Supreme Court warns of 'anarchy' as BLOs face threats during SIR process

The Supreme Court voiced concern over booth-level officers being threatened during the SIR of electoral rolls and asked the Election Commission to flag any non-cooperation by states

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took note of booth-level officers (BLOs) and other officials being allegedly "threatened" in West Bengal and other states during the process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and asked the Election Commission of India to bring such instances to its notice, LiveLaw reported.

 

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the poll panel to take serious notice of the alleged lack of cooperation by different state governments during the process.

 

"Bring to our notice instances of lack of cooperation, hindrances to the work of BLOs, and we will pass appropriate orders," the Bench told senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission.

 

"Deal with the situation, or it will cause anarchy," Justice Kant told Dwivedi while terming the situation "very serious".

SC highlights BLO working conditions

Justice Bagchi also questioned the poll panel on the working conditions of BLOs. Responding to the question, Dwivedi explained that there was no question of BLOs being driven to commit suicides due to stress, as they have to tackle 37 voters on average and pick up 7-8 houses.

 

However, Justice Bagchi said, "This is not desk work, BLO has to go to the spots, verify the house-to-house enumeration and then upload... This is the pressure, which is why we are directed to increase the number of BLOs. We want to ensure that your SIR at ground level is done without any issues."

BLOs under pressure

As the SIR of electoral rolls is underway in several states, the cases of suicides of BLOs have put a spotlight on their working conditions. According to media reports, a 46-year-old BLO in Uttar Pradesh's Baheri village recently died by suicide in the storage room of his home, reportedly because of work-related stress. In a note he left behind, he said he was "unable to cope" with the burden of BLO duties.

 

In another incident, a 42-year-old BLO involved in the SIR exercise collapsed at his home in Rajasthan’s Dholpur on November 29 and later died. Police said he had collapsed while uploading voter data late at night. His family alleged that he had been working under extreme pressure.