Empty houses, confused voters make SIR a race against time for BLOs

A booth level officer (BLO), one of the 2,325 deployed on the field for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in Ernakulam district, was so fed up with knocking on doors of so many empty houses that he recently proposed an alternative plan which he thought would make the work easier both for him and the voters in the booth assigned to him. He proposed to call one voter from a family to a common place and distribute the enumeration forms. The filled-up forms were to be collected back in a similar session sometime later. The councillor in the area also found the idea convenient and he announced it in a WhatsApp group. It was, however, shot down soon by someone who thought the BLO’s plan amounted to disobeying the Election Commission of India’s SIR instructions. The BLO, evidently afraid of possible consequences if someone raised a complaint, backed off his plan, and decided to continue knocking doors. The episode, played out in three WhatsApp messages, symbolises what the BLOs have been going through since the SIR field works started on November 4.

Many of them find the field work, involving distributing and collecting back the enumeration forms, a race against time. Empty houses to confused voters, the challenges they encounter during the exercise are many, even as they stare at a fast approaching deadline to complete the procedures. Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar has directed District Collectors to ensure that the BLOs complete the distribution of the enumeration forms by November 25.

“Often people will be away for work when we go to distribute the forms. We have been instructed to visit upto three times if a house is vacant when we go there. However, in my case I have visited a house upto five times to meet the residents there and ensure that they get the opportunity to participate in the SIR and don’t lose their voting right,” Renesh P.A., the BLO looking after booth 64 in Ernakulam assembly constituency said. He said since he was handling an urban constituency, tracing people who have relocated after enrolling in voters’ list using a temporary address was a major challenge.

A BLO in the neighbouring Thrikkakara constituency, covering major parts of the city, shared the concerns. “Our contact number is given on top of the enumeration forms. So we tell people to share the numbers with their neighbours who were not home when we went there,” he said. The BLO said many voters were confused about the whole exercise and especially about filling in the forms. “We have observed many getting the Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number of 2002 wrong. We spend a good time explaining the process to the voters,” he said.

A woman BLO engaged in the works in Kunnathunad, with a large rural area, said she had to spend up to one hour at a home explaining the process during the initial days. “We can’t simply leave the forms with people who are clueless about the exercise. So we had to sit back and get the forms filled up. Now, we have been told to somehow finish distribution of the forms as fast as possible,” she said. She said the house-to-house enumeration has been taking a toll on the health of the BLOs, especially women.