Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday once again went out to bat for the booth-level officers, many of whom have been on an indefinite sit-in protest at the office of the state chief electoral officer since Monday.

“What can the BLOs do? They cannot upload the data for poor connectivity,” Mamata said at a public meeting in the North 24-Parganas border town of Bongaon.

“Just wait and watch after the draft electoral rolls are published,” she said. “Bhayankar, bhayaboho abostha hobe [a terrible, terrifying situation will emerge].”

The Trinamool has been on the warpath against the Election Commission since the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was launched.

The issue snowballed into a controversy with the deaths of voters and BLOs, some by suicide.

Mamata has already written to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to halt the exercise in Bengal.

“Had the SIR exercise been implemented in a planned manner, with all technical and logistic support to the BLOs, then we would have supported it,” Mamata said.

The chief minister questioned why the Election Commission was in a rush to complete the revision in two months.

“In 2002 when the SIR was conducted the final list was published in 2004, two years later. Why hurry this time,” Mamata asked.

The last time the SIR exercise was conducted in Bengal was in 2002, between the 2001 Assembly polls and the 2004 Lok Sabha election.

“Who has instructed the EC to rush with SIR? To satisfy which political party are you pushing people to the brink of death?” Mamata asked. “Do they have the answers?”

A delegation of Trinamool MPs will meet the EC officials at Nirvachan Sadan in Delhi on Friday at 11am.

“Time has been sought for a delegation of 10 MPs,” said Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool’s general secretary and Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha MP.

“They are representatives elected by the people of India, unlike the CEC and ECs who are handpicked by the government of India. These selective leaks portraying the EC as ‘transparent’ and ‘cordial’ are nothing but a manufactured façade.

“If the EC is genuinely transparent, why is it scared to face just 10 MPs? Hold the meeting openly. Telecast it live and answer five straightforward, legitimate questions that Trinamool Congress will place before you,” Abhishek challenged.

The Election Commission is learnt to have okayed only five members for the meeting.

“This is not the first time. In the past too they have denied meetings with our delegations,” said a Trinamool MP.

A section of the BLOs who had marched from College Square in north Kolkata on Monday continued with their sit-in demonstration at the CEO’s office demanding a meeting with chief electoral officer Manoj Agrawal.

On Tuesday morning, the scene remained unchanged. The same group continued their sit-in, waiting for the CEO to appear, while the corridor outside his office stayed crowded with security personnel.

"We are only asking for humane treatment and manageable duties," one BLO said.