With just days left before the collection of enumeration forms begins, the Trinamool Congress is training its booth-level agents (BLAs) to use a mobile application called Didir Doot that aims to record data on all voters across Bengal.
The BLAs will accompany Election Commission-appointed booth-level officers (BLOs) when filled-out forms are collected. Using the app, they will record whether voters have shifted within or outside the state, passed away, or relocated after marriage.
Each BLA has been assigned one part of an Assembly constituency. Once they sign into the app, a complete list of voters automatically appears, showing names, voter ID card numbers, age, sex, part number, and serial number on the electoral rolls.
An Assembly constituency comprises several wards, which are made up of several parts.
The app includes an edit option to update voter information, such as whether someone has relocated or remains registered in that part.
It also seeks feedback from voters on their satisfaction with the state government’s performance. “We have to ask the voter for their feedback and key in their replies,” one BLA told Metro.
Technology for scale
The exercise will give the party instant access to updated data across the state, Trinamool leaders and BLAs said.
BLAs, who are appointed by political parties, accompany the BLOs —- appointed by the Election Commission —- during door-to-door visits. They will do so again when filled-out forms are submitted.
“The app will come into use when the submission of forms begins. The BLAs have been trained Assembly-segment-wise, and final stages of training are being conducted at the local level,” a Trinamool leader said.
At one training session, all BLAs from a constituency attended along with councillors, the ward president, ward women’s wing president, and ward youth president.
Officials from the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), a political consultancy advising Trinamool since 2019, conducted the training.
Pratik Jain, co-founder and director of I-PAC, told Metro it would be impossible to monitor enumeration form data from 80,000 booths across the state without technology. “Imagine how many callers would have been needed to take daily updates from 80,000 BLAs in these booths,” Jain said.
“The training of BLAs in all 294 Assembly constituencies was completed by I-PAC before the special intensive revision (SIR) started rolling in Bengal,” he added.
Building evidence
A BLA from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency said the party has also asked them to photograph filled-out enumeration forms being submitted by voters. “If it is found that a number of people have been unfairly deleted from the electoral rolls, we will have to legally challenge the move by the EC. To do so, we will need evidence,” the BLA said.
The app may not have an option to submit pictures, but they may be stored at the
ward level, a mid-level leader said.
The initial training was conducted even before distribution of enumeration forms started. The final phase at the local level is still underway.
Limited access
BLAs, whose names and phone numbers have been provided by local leadership to Trinamool’s central leadership, can access the app by signing in with their phone numbers. A one-time password provides entry.
Besides the BLAs, only the ward electoral roll supervisor can access the app. “No councillor, no MLA, or any other person will be able to access the app,” said a party leader in south Calcutta.