SIR in Bengal: CEO's office sets deadline for BLOs to report on duty, warns action against non-compliance

Kolkata, Oct 29 The Office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), on Wednesday, had set the deadline for all the booth-level officers (BLOs) to report for electoral duty by 12 noon on Thursday, officials said.

The BLOs, who are yet to collect their enrollment letters despite being selected, have been asked to collect them by 12 noon on Thursday, an insider from the CEO's office said.

The CEO's office has also cautioned the BLOs of disciplinary action against those BLOs failing to comply with the deadline-related instruction.

The CEO's office has directed the district magistrates, as well as the district electoral officers, to oversee the entire process and ensure that the BLOs for their respective districts comply with the deadline on this count.

The election Commission of India (ECI) has the power to even direct a state government to suspend any state government staff appointed as BLO or any electoral official on charges of non-compliance, and also direct the state government concerned to file cases against these erring officials.

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) for 12 Indian states, including West Bengal, was announced by the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar earlier this week, and the first stage of the three-stage revision exercise will start from November 4.

The BLOs are the bottom of the pyramid of the electoral officers, and their role is the most important in the first stage of the three-stage voter list exercise.

In the first phase, the BLOs will reach every doorstep with the enumeration forms and collect the details of the voters concerned.

At the end of the first phase of SIR, the draft voters' list in the state will be announced.

In the second stage, any political party or individual voter will be able to register their complaints on the draft list, which will be addressed by the ECI.

In the third and final stage, the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will address the complaints received from individual political parties or voters, following which the final voters' list will be published.

The entire SIR process is likely to be completed by March 2026.

The last time the SIR was conducted in West Bengal was in 2002.

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