Schoolteacher Deepmala Kundu rang the bell and announced the reason for
her arrival — “I have come for the SIR. I am the BLO (booth-level officer).”
As the residents came down, she quickly checked their names on the latest
voter list and handed out enumeration forms — two for each voter.
“I will come back after two-three days to collect them. If your name features on the 2002 voter list, fill the column on the left. If you were not a voter in 2002, fill the right-hand-side column mentioning the name of either of your parents or grandparents whose name featured on the 2002 list,” she said. The enumeration forms distributed by the Election Commission have the same format everywhere.
On the first day of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal, confusion and many unanswered questions remained among voters across Calcutta. Some voters were worried about the fact that they were voters elsewhere in 2002 and did not remember the exact booth where they had voted then. Many elderly people, not adept at using computers, did not know how to access the 2002 list.
In a Kasba neighbourhood, Prantosh Singha was worried whether the name of his son would get deleted from the voter list because the youth would not be back from the US before January. Enumeration forms can be submitted till December 4.
Singha said someone had told him that a voter must sign the enumeration form. A poll official in Bengal, however, said a physical signature of the applicant was not necessary.
“My son works in the merchant navy. He is in the US now. He will not be back before January. How will I submit the enumeration form meant for him?” Singha asked.
Sunil Kumar Patra, a resident of the Jadavpur Assembly constituency, had walked up to a helpdesk set up by a political party to know if his and his family members’ names featured on the 2002 list. “I cannot use computers and hence cannot find the names on my own. I need someone to help me find out if my name is there on the 2002 list,” he said, sitting at Amra Sabai Club in Ramlalbazar.
A resident of Garia said he skipped office on Tuesday, thinking that the BLO would come. “Late in the afternoon, I saw the booth-level agent (BLA) of a political party near my home. I ran out of my home. He was there with the BLO. I was informed that the BLO will come tomorrow. I have to skip the office again tomorrow,” he said.
Across the city, many residents voluntarily approached BLOs they saw on the road with their questions, although the officials had not come to their homes.
The enumeration forms have pre-filled data like the name, address and voter identity card number of the voter, the name of the Assembly constituency, and the part number and serial number of the voter on the list.
The BLOs — appointed by the Election Commission of India — were accompanied by BLAs, who have been appointed by political parties. In some places, BLAs of only the ruling Trinamool Congress accompanied the BLOs, while in some other places BLAs of two or three political parties joined the BLOs.
Sandipa Sarkar, Trinamool’s BLA in a pocket of Jadavpur, directed many voters with unanswered questions to a helpdesk setup by the party at Amra Sabai Club. The local Trinamool councillor, along with ateam of assistants, was present in the office to answer the queries of people coming there.
Sourav Ganguly, a BLA for the CPM in Jadavpur’s Baghajatin, said BLAs of both Trinamool and the CPM tailed the BLO in his neighbourhood.
The Election Commission has accorded considerable importance to BLAs in the SIR process. The BLAs have been empowered to “collect duly filled in enumeration forms from electors, certify up to 50 enumeration forms each day and submit them to theBLO”, said an official of the state chief electoralofficer’s (CEO) office.
The BLOs also handed over relevant forms if someone informed them that an elector had moved elsewhere and wanted to shift their name to the constituency where they now live, or if someone had passed away and the name needed to be deleted or if any correction was needed in the elector’s details.
“Submit these forms along with the enumeration form when I come back,” Kundu said while handing over these forms.
In many places, the BLOs did two shifts on Tuesday — in the morning and afternoon, and again in the evening to reach out to those who had left for office early in the morning.
An official of the Bengal CEO’s office said the BLOs would visit each home three times. “The website will have an option to fill the enumeration forms online. This option will become available in a few days,” said the official.
Since each polling station has about 1,200 voters — one BLO is usually assigned to one polling station — the officers will take some time to cover all voters. “There is no need to worry if the BLO does not reach your home in the first few days,” said a BLO.