An Election Commission order amending rules for the appointment of booth-level agents (BLAs) amid the SIR exercise in Bengal has prompted Trinamool to allege that the move was meant to favour the BJP.
A BLA is appointed by a political party for each booth to accompany the EC-appointed booth-level officer (BLO) during the enumeration process and to flag any voter-related complaints to ensure fairness in the process.
According to the 2023 EC guidelines, anyone appointed as a BLA for a political party has to be a voter of that specific booth.
Under the order issued on Tuesday, parties can appoint BLAs from outside the booth, provided that the appointee is a voter of the same Assembly constituency.
“In case of unavailability of a Booth Level Agent (BLA) from the same part of the electoral roll, a Booth Level Agent may be appointed from any registered elector of the same Assembly Constituency,” the ECI order reads.
Trinamool took to social media to question if the amended order was intended to help the BJP, which had reportedly failed to find BLAs for several booths.
At a media conference at Trinamool Bhavan on Wednesday, party MP and advocate Kalyan Banerjee called out the EC for its “biased behaviour”.
Banerjee questioned why the guideline on the appointment of BLAs was modified eight days into the SIR exercise.
“Since the BJP is unable to provide agents at specific booths in most cases, the ECI has issued a new order favouring the BJP. Now, a BLA can be appointed not only from the booth where the revision is taking place but also from any neighbouring booth within the same Assembly constituency. This earlier stringent rule has been changed just to please the BJP,” said the Serampore MP. He also lashed out at the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, for praising the commission’s order.
On Wednesday, Adhikari, along with a few BJP leaders, visited the office of Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal and submitted documents detailing 15.25 lakh voter names that allegedly had multiple entries on the electoral list.
“The CEO has assured us that the names of those 15.25 lakh voters will be independently checked,” Adhikari said.
The CPM also welcomed the EC’s decision but questioned why the order was issued so late.
“During the all-party meeting held at the CEO’s office in Calcutta on October 28, we were the first to demand an amendment of norms in BLA appointments. Our question is why the commission took almost eight days after the SIR rollout to issue the order?” said CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty.
Both BJP and CPM leaders said the rule modification would help Opposition parties in Bengal appoint BLAs in as many booths as possible.
Until last week, Trinamool, the BJP and the CPM had submitted the names of 37,000, 38,000 and 29,000 BLAs across the state, respectively.
BJP leaders had earlier said they were unable to appoint BLAs in almost 30 per cent of booths, mainly in minority-dominated areas.
“Now there will be no bar on appointing BLAs from other booths. So, it will be helpful for the party to appoint BLAs in as many booths as possible. That’s why Trinamool is opposing the decision,” said a BJP leader.
The presence of BLAs during the enumeration process is considered significant for monitoring the area and detecting deceased voters or those who have relocated.
Since the beginning of the enumeration process, the BJP and the CPM have been accusing Trinamool workers of overpowering the BLOs.
“If Opposition BLAs are present, they could at least flag these issues,” said a BJP leader.