Not all parties keen on appointing BLAs for SIR in Nashik dist

Nashik: The district election officer’s (DEO) appeal to political parties to appoint booth level agents (BLAs) as counterparts to the election office’s booth level officers (BLOs) during the special intensive revision (SIR) has received a lukewarm response from most parties, even as Shiv Sena (UBT) leads the appointment tally.The district administration has appointed a total of 4,919 BLOs — one for each polling booth. While the appointment of BLAs by major and national political parties is voluntary, each party is expected to place one agent per booth to coordinate with the BLO.“We have received appointments for 8,816 BLAs across all political parties combined. Shiv Sena (UBT) leads with 3,259 BLAs, closely followed by Shiv Sena with 2,995,” said Madhumati Sardesai, deputy district election officer for Nashik.BJP lags far behind, having appointed only 1,579 BLAs across the district. The remaining political partie, including NCP, NCP (SP), Congress, BSP, and MNS, have collectively appointed just 983 BLAs.Congress city unit chief Nilesh Khaire stated that his party has submitted BLA names for certain areas while lists for the remaining sectors are still being finalized.“We have submitted the names of BLAs for several booths in Nashik city as well as in the rural areas.

The process of finalizing the names for the remaining booths is currently underway,” Khaire said. Other political parties reported similar delays.The SIR happens once in 25 years to purify the electoral roll. During this intensive drive, BLOs track down existing voters and register new ones.BLOs are scheduled to begin house-to-house visits on June 30. This will be an extensive task, requiring each BLO to visit more than 400 homes, given that voter counts range from 1,000 to 1,200 per booth.“Since our BLOs are govt officers who may not intimately know the residents in their assigned jurisdictions, we rely on BLAs. They are regularly in touch with the local electorate and have a clear idea of who resides in the various bungalows and buildings. Their assistance is vital to achieving an accurate electoral roll,” said Amol Nikam, Additional Tahsildar of Nashik.“The BLAs help our machinery reach voters so that names are not missed, duplicate entries are cleared, new voters are registered, and deceased individuals are removed from the system. We strongly appeal to all political parties to appoint their BLAs to ensure the highest quality electoral roll,” Nikam added.