Bengal: BLOs protest outside CEO office over 'excessive' SIR work pressure

Kolkata, Nov 24 A section of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) on Monday staged a demonstration outside the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, protesting against excessive work pressure under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The agitating BLOs also tried to enter the CEO's office during their protest but were stopped by police, prompting a minor scuffle.

Later, the protest was called off.

Earlier in the day, members of the BLO Adhikar Raksha Committee marched from College Street in north Kolkata to the CEO office in central Kolkata. They carried locks and fetters to symbolically seal the main entrance of the CEO office. After reaching the office, protesters scaled police barricades in an attempt to enter the CEO's premises.

The protesting BLOs alleged they were forced to hold the march because the Election Commission did not address their complaints about tremendous and inhuman work pressure during the SIR exercise.

A protester said: "We have been asked to complete the work within a short period. From distribution of enumeration forms, collecting them from voters and uploading them online, everything has been completed in one month. The same work usually takes more than two years. Several BLOs have fallen sick due to this work."

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already written to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on this issue and asked the poll panel to halt the SIR exercise in West Bengal.

The protest came days after two female BLOs died by suicide, reportedly due to stress and workload related to SIR, while another BLO suffered a cerebral attack amid the exercise.

The committee warned that if deadlines are not extended or corrective steps are not taken by the Election Commission, it will launch a continuous protest movement across the state.

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