At half-way mark, as BLOs struggle against deadline, 16% forms digitised, Pg3

Key Highlights:

• The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is underway in nine states and three Union Territories, with a deadline of December 4.
• As of Wednesday, 99% of the 51 crore registered electors had received forms, but only about 16% of completed forms were digitized.
• A third death of a Booth Level Officer (BLO) by suicide was reported in West Bengal, attributed to the stress of meeting the SIR deadline.
• The Election Commission (EC) tweaked the SIR process after issues in Bihar, removing the requirement to submit documents for those not on the 2003 electoral rolls.

Detailed Insights:

• The SIR process requires BLOs to physically match forms with old electoral rolls, a task proving to be difficult, and if matching fails, notices will be issued from December 26 to January 31, 2026.
• In Uttar Pradesh, only about 3.77% of forms had been digitized, leading to FIRs against six BLOs in Bulandshahr for negligence.
• In West Bengal, the death of a BLO highlighted the pressure of juggling SIR duties with other responsibilities, especially in Hindi-speaking areas where forms are in Bengali.
• Kerala, seeking postponement of the SIR, has a low digitization rate of 1.89%, prompting the establishment of hubs for form collection and digitization, with warnings against disrupting BLO work.
• Tamil Nadu faces challenges in Chennai, where many electors struggle to provide pre-2005 voter ID and polling booth details, particularly in low-income areas.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Special Intensive Revision (SIR): An enumeration process conducted by the Election Commission to update electoral rolls.
• Booth Level Officer (BLO): A grassroot level election official responsible for voter registration and verification.
• Electoral Roll: An official list of persons qualified to vote in an election.