Bengal SIR: Several BLOs demand central security after receiving threats

Kolkata, Oct 16 (IANS) A section of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) on Thursday wrote a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, seeking deployment of paramilitary forces after receiving threats to include "false names" in the voter's list.

The BLOs, as part of the Electoral Workers Unity Forum, said they must be given security when they go to booth-level areas for election duty as part of the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

They alleged that threats are coming from different places, even though the SIR notification was yet to be issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

According to ECI, the job of the BLOs is to visit every house in their assigned area to maintain and update the voter rolls. These door-to-door visits are a cornerstone of ensuring the accuracy and inclusivity of the electoral process. According to the complaints, the BLOs are being told beforehand that the names of those who have Aadhaar cards must be included in the voter's list. Many BLOs have objected to this.

Sources said it has been alleged that guns have been shown to intimidate some of them.

According to sources, places from which such complaints are being made in Kolkata are Gulshan Colony, Kidderpore and Kasba areas. It is alleged that pressure is being created to give them enumeration forms based on Aadhaar cards alone.

Reacting to the development, Union Minister of State for Education and DoNER, Sukanta Majumdar, said, "I had already expressed my concern regarding this. The way the decision taken by the Election Commission was being threatened, especially by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, it is natural that such a situation would arise."

The BJP has been demanding that the SIR of West Bengal's electoral rolls must be conducted to delete fake, false and illegal voters.

The Election Commission has already made preparations to carry out the exercise in Bengal and has held several meetings with district officials and BLOs, giving training on how to conduct the exercise.

However, an official notification in this regard is yet to be issued. The Trinamool Congress, on the other hand, has opposed this move and vowed to launch a massive protest movement if the name of a single legal voter is deleted from the voter's list.

--IANS

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