- BLOs in 12 states handle voter verification for over 50 crore electors, averaging 1,000 voters each
- Despite stress and issues, BLOs have submitted 94.5% of forms and continue to work under pressure
- Challenges include locating voters, administrative pressure, inadequate training, and tight deadlines
It's 6.30 am, and Karuna Aggarwal's long day has begun. The government school teacher, now working as a Booth Level Officer (BLO) in Noida, Karuna, must first complete her tasks as a mother. By 7.30 am, she has readied her two children and sent them off to school. She has just about 30 minutes to get ready, grab a bite and head into the field.
Noida or Gautam Buddha Nagar district, like the 74 other districts, is part of the Election Commission's voter list review, the Special Intensive Revision. And Karuna Aggarwal is among 5.3 lakh BLOs deployed across 12 states as the foot soldiers in the fight to cleanse the voter lists of errors and duplications. These 12 states account for as many as 50.8 crore electors -- on average, each BLO has to collect documents and forms for about 1,000 voters.
Over the past several weeks, BLOs have made headlines for the wrong reasons. There have been reports of suicides due to work stress and fear of disciplinary actions. These deaths have also triggered political blame games and demands to halt the SIR exercise.
To understand the SIR workload on the ground, NDTV spent a day with Karuna in Noida, trying to understand how BLOs work, their challenges and how this pressure is affecting their mental health.
How a BLO's Day Begins
Most BLOs start their field work around 9 am. Each is responsible for a maximum of 1,200 voters. Karuna's list, however, has 706 names. She begins her day in Noida's Sector 30, moving door-to-door to collect filled enumeration forms.
From there, she heads to her designated booth. Voters who have not yet received or filled up the enumeration forms come here to complete them; others arrive to submit their forms. Karuna hears out both groups.
Karuna is also a mother and a teacher, and managing both home and work is not easy. She has been a BLO since 2016 and teaches at a school in Nithari village when she is not assigned election work. "The workload is very different. Teaching is structured. BLO work demands more time and comes with more pressure," she says.
Across India, tens of thousands of BLOs follow routines similar to Karuna's: morning home visits, distributing forms, collecting forms, and later uploading all the completed information on the poll panel's online portal.
The Challenges
Missing Voters: Karuna says the hardest part is finding voters at the addresses listed against their names. "In many cases, the voter isn't living at the same address, or the address has been written incorrectly. We end up wasting hours finding the right person."
Administrative Pressure: At Noida's Sector 92 command centre, two exhausted BLOs walk out of the lift. One tells us, "We were working at our booth when the supervisor called and asked us to come immediately, or a notice will be issued. We came here and waited two hours. No work happened. Now it's 3 pm - our day is wasted."
Inadequate Training: BLOs say training sessions were conducted before SIR began, but the field situations were completely different. Many voters also reported receiving conflicting instructions from BLOs about what details to fill.
Lack of Awareness: Both BLOs and voters face gaps in understanding what information is required. Voters struggle to retrieve old documents, and BLOs spend extra time explaining details repeatedly.
Tight Deadline: While the Election Commission eventually extended the SIR deadline by seven days, BLOs say the relief came late. "Most BLOs had finished only around 60 per cent of their work by the last week of November. If the deadline had been extended earlier, lives could have been saved," Karuna says.
Collateral Damage: Schools With No Teachers
At the school in Nithari where Karuna works, 16 teachers have been assigned BLO duty. As a result, regular teaching has come to a halt. Children attend school, eat the mid-day meal, and spend the day mostly without lessons.
Principal Vibha Devi, who is set to retire next year, is frustrated. "Every teacher is a BLO. There is no one left to teach. In the morning, we handle school work; after noon, we go house-to-house to collect forms. My work is only 60 per cent done and eight days are left. How can we manage both?"
A Class 6 student says, "There have been no classes for many days. Sometimes there's one class, sometimes none. Mostly, we play."
Karuna has a suggestion: "Winter vacations could have been declared earlier, so that teachers could have focused on SIR without compromising on children's education."
Many Problems, But Work Continues
Despite the immense pressure, BLOs are pushing through. According to the Election Commission's data, as of December 3, 48.4 crore forms -- 94.5 per cent of the total -- have been submitted and uploaded online.
Manoj Dubey, a supervisor managing nine BLOs, says, "This is a service to the country. Yes, the workload has increased for BLOs and district officials, but we will complete it in time."
Most voters say they do not oppose the SIR process; the challenges arise due to the rushed timeline and lack of awareness.
While the Election Commission has revised the SIR process after the Bihar experience, it's clear on the ground that more changes may be needed, changes that prioritise both voter convenience and the well-being of the BLOs who ensure that every eligible citizen remains part of India's democratic process.
