SIR in Bengal: 'Edit option' introduced in BLO apps for correction of wrong enumeration data entries

Kolkata, Dec 1 The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Monday, announced the introduction of "edit options" in the booth-level officers (BLO) apps for correction of wrong enumeration data entries during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the 12 Indian states and Union Territories (UTs) that began on November 4.

Either the BLOs or the electoral registration officers (EROs) will be able to make corrections in the wrong enumeration data entries that have already been made.

The commission had also intimated that since the SIR schedule had been extended by seven days, a part of that extra time could be easily utilised for the wrong enumeration data entities already done.

Till now, there was no option for the correction or editing of enumeration data entities already done in the BLOs apps.

However, that correction or editing of wrong entities would be possible now with the introduction of the "edit option" in the BLOs apps.

The decision of the commission to introduce the "edit option" by a series of complaints from the opposition parties in different states that the BLOs were often forced to enter wrong enumeration data following pressure from the booth-level agents (BLAs), especially from the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Such complaints have been maximum in the case of West Bengal, and in most complaints, the ruling Trinamool Congress has been accused of putting pressure on the BLOs to deliberately make such wrong entities.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal had also accused the state administration in West Bengal of putting pressure on the BLOs, EROs, and assistant electoral returning officers (AEROs) on this count through the district magistrates, who are also the district electoral officers (DEOs) of the district concerned.

On Monday, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and senior BJP leader, Suvendu Adhikari, accused the vote-strategist Prashant Kishor-founded Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), of influencing the data entry process in the revision exercise, and in that process, names of several illegal Bangladesh infiltrators and deceased voters have been included in the voters' list.

I-PAC had been strategising Trinamool Congress's vote and campaign strategies since the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.

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