Bengal BLOs seek security cover for fresh voter enrolment drive after SIR exercise

Kolkata, Oct 5 (IANS) An association of the booth-level officers (BLOs) in West Bengal has written to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Neelam Meena seeking security cover during the upcoming door-to-door exercise to enroll new voters and re-enroll eligible voters whose names were deleted in the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in the state before the assembly elections held earlier this year.

As per the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s instructions, the BLOs will have to go door to door to re-enroll the names of the eligible voters who have been excluded and start the process of registering the names of new eligible voters.

After this instruction, a section of BLOs in West Bengal have expressed apprehension of being targeted or attacked by the voters deleted during the SIR process. These BLOs have also identified eight sensitive districts where the apprehension of attacks is maximum.

The eight districts identified by the BLO association as most sensitive are North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Malda, Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur and Kolkata. While only certain pockets of Kolkata and Hooghly have been flagged as vulnerable, the remaining six districts have been categorised as fully sensitive.

In the letter, the association pointed out that although the BLOs had no role to play in the omission of names during the SIR exercise, they are the most vulnerable targets from a section of deleted voters.

“We are apprehending security threats door-to-door. Hence, we have written to the Chief Electoral Officer demanding security cover for the BLOs during the exercise. We have demanded that security personnel or necessary forces be provided with each BLO,” said association secretary, Swapan Mondal.

The concerns have been heightened by memories of an incident in April this year when judicial officers involved in the SIR adjudication process were allegedly attacked and held hostage for several hours at Mothabari in Malda district.

“If the judicial officers can be harassed in such a manner, what will be the guarantee that our security will also not be compromised during the fresh enrolment process?” questioned a BLO, who refused to be named.

–IANS

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