A group of booth-level officers in East Burdwan's Katwa staged a demonstration in front of the Katwa-I block office, flagging "severe mental stress" because of "immense workload" that included uploading data on a designated app as part of the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The BLOs demanded that the Election Commission should appoint at least one data entry operator in each booth to assist them in uploading the details of the filled-up enumeration forms and voter photographs on the BLO app.
"We are under severe mental stress as we can't upload data properly on the app because we don't have a proper Internet connection. Also, some BLOs are not tech savvy, and it is difficult for them to upload data after distributing so many enumeration forms to voters at their houses," said a BLO.
Another BLO said that many of them were under tremendous pressure as they could not upload data on time. Most did not have laptops and had to do this task on their smartphones.
"We have been told that the EC would initiate stern measures against the BLOs if it is found that they did not discharge their duties properly. But we are handicapped as the EC does not give us tech support," said another BLO.
Sources in the district administration said that they were sympathetic to the demands of the BLOs, but could not do much as it was impossible to engage a data entry operator in each booth.
"The EC has made it clear that data entry should be done by permanent government employees in the Group C category or above. We don't have so many government employees in each of the booths. We will, however, help the BLOs by providing additional training on how to use the BLO app," said an official.
"We try to upload data on the app for hours after we finish distributing enumeration forms. But most of the time, we can't upload data at the end of the day," said a BLO.
Last Saturday, a woman BLO in Katwa, Namita Hansda, died of alleged workload and stress. On Thursday, a woman BLO fell ill during a training programme on digitising enumeration forms in Kalna.
BLOs in Nadia's Karimpur also agitated against overwork following the demand to digitise filled-up enumeration forms on Thursday.
"The Commission has asked BLOs to digitise all details that an elector furnishes in the physical enumeration form, plus upload each and every photograph of electors on the mobile app. As a result, BLOs are agitating in different places across the state. It is nothing but inhuman workload," said Swapan Mandal, the general secretary of Votekarmi and BLO Aikya Mancha, a platform working for the welfare and demands of the BLOs.
The BLOs, sources said, are required to upload data entered on the forms and the number of dead voters they found while visiting the homes of the electors.
"Based on the data uploaded by the BLOs, the EC is keeping a track of the distribution of enumeration forms. If the BLOs don't upload data on time, it would be tough for the EC to keep track of the distribution of forms," said a source.
SDO, Katwa, Anirban Basu, said that they were considering the issues raised by the BLOs seriously.
"The issues raised by the BLOs have been forwarded to the higher authorities.... We are trying to ensure that the process is carried out properly and the BLOs don't face stress. If any BLO faces health issues, the authorities will take care of that," said the SDO.