Malda (West Bengal): The deadline for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of the electoral roll is nearing its end. But the BLOs are nowhere to be seen. Voters have filled out the counting forms, but no one knows when the BLOs will arrive. The Election Commission has extended the deadline for submitting SIR counting forms once. It’s likely they won’t extend it again. But will the names of these voters who haven’t submitted their counting forms be deleted from the voter list? This worry has everyone losing sleep.
This incident occurred at booth number 183 in the Gangabagh area of Ward number 11 of the English Bazar Municipality in Malda. According to local and administrative sources, Debashish Das was appointed as the BLO at that booth. After initially working smoothly, the BLO suddenly disappeared. The people at that booth were devastated because their mobile phones were also switched off.
Although the administration has now appointed a new BLO, questions still remain. How will the new BLO thoroughly verify so many counting forms and upload them to the Election Commission’s portal in such a short time? Of course, no one knows the answer. However, the administration has claimed that the work will be completed within the stipulated time.
Surjeet Karmakar, a voter at booth number 183, said, “The BLO provided the forms about a month ago, but he hasn’t come to collect them yet. When we call him at the number on the form, he’s unavailable. We’re worried about this. Many people in the area are submitting their forms to the party office. However, we don’t want to take that risk. We’ll submit the forms to the BLO.”
Another voter, Aarti Mandal, said, “Our form hasn’t been submitted yet. We’re worried that if we don’t submit it on time, our names won’t be on the voter list.”
Local councilor Sanjay Dey said, “BLO Debashish Das of booth number 183 in our area is suffering from some physical problems. He fell ill a few days after distributing the counting forms. He hasn’t visited the area since then. His phone is also switched off. We informed the Sadar Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) about this matter. He has appointed a new BLO in our area.”
Sadar Sub-Divisional Magistrate Suman Majumdar said, “Due to the illness of the old BLO, a new BLO has been appointed at that booth. The work at that booth is also almost complete. The work will be completed within the stipulated time.”
