Even as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal is scheduled to start in November first week, the state Chief Electoral Office is reportedly facing issues in employing Booth Level Officers (BLOs), crucial for implementing the exercise.
The CEO’s office, according to sources, has summoned at least 600 government school teachers, assigned as BLOs, who have refused to participate in the exercise while teacher unions have expressed concerns over workload and unclear duty schedules. Allegations of irregularities in the recruitment of over 4,000 BLOs have further complicated the process.
After the 600 BLOs sought exemption from the SIR work and informed the CEO about the same, they were sent show cause notices seeking a reason for the same, sources said. The BLOs are required to visit door-to-door to collect information for the revision of the voter list.
Bhaskar Ghosh, leader of Sangrami Jamuti Manch, which has been demanding Dearness Allowance for the state government employees, said, “We are not against SIR. If the teachers will do the SIR work then the concerned schools will remain closed for those days as there is a shortage of staff in several schools in West Bengal. In some areas, only a couple of teachers manage the entire school. How will they work as BLOs ?”
Some teachers, however, expressed concerns for their safety as the reason for withdrawing their names, citing past experiences.
A senior teacher, on the condition of anonymity, said, “We are afraid to do the BLO work. If anything happens (to the teachers), who is going to take the responsibility. We already have a bitter experience of the Panchayat and Lok Sabha elections. So, we don’t want to take such a risk.”
The panchayat elections held in 2023 had witnessed multiple clashes across the state during which over 40 persons were killed. Incidents of violence were reported from South and North 24 Parganas, Malda, Murshidabad and Howrah districts.
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Despite huge deployment of central forces, sporadic violence was also reported during the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
State BJP president Shamik Bhattacharya said, “Teachers are not feeling safe in this state, so they don’t want to work as BLOs.”
TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said, “The Commission has no legal authority to take action against the BLOs.” He alleged that the notices are also being issued “selectively”.
Part-time teachers as BLOs? CEO seeks report
In a related development, allegations of irregularities have surfaced in the appointment of over 4,000 BLOs, with claims that part-time teachers are being deployed as BLOs under the guise of assistant teachers.
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The state Election Commission has asked the respective district magistrates for a report on the matter.
A senior officer of Election Commission said, “We have issued strict instructions to the district administrations that part-time government employees will not be recruited as BLOs. However, we have received complaints from some districts that the part-time teachers are being included in the BLO list. We have also sent letters to concerned district administrations to rectify the list.”
