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The anger of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in West Bengal boiled over on Monday (December 1) over the increasing workload during the Special Voter List Revision Drive (Special Intensive Revision – SIR). A large number of BLOs demonstrated outside the State Election Commission office in Kolkata, during which they had a heated clash with the police.

The protesters gathered under the banner of BLO Adhikar Raksha Samiti raised slogans and tried to break the police barricade. According to officials, police had to deploy additional forces to control the crowd. Major demands of the protesters included extension of the SIR deadline by two months and compensation to the families of BLOs who lost their lives while on duty. He said that it is not possible to complete the work within the current time limit, while the workload is continuously increasing.

The situation became more tense when BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari reached the CEO office along with several MLAs. Amidst the demonstration by BLOs, a team of officers also came to lodge a complaint criticizing the state’s SIR management.

Questioning the government, Suvendu Adhikari said, “Why will the TMC government, which speaks against SIR, give honorarium to the Booth Level Officer (BLO)? It will have to be given to them… It is not right to speak against SIR.” The officer met Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Aggarwal and Special Role Observer Subrata Gupta to discuss the alleged irregularities in the SIR process and the challenges faced by BLOs.

According to PTI, the BJP delegation had reached the CEO office as part of a pre-scheduled program to highlight the problems to SIR. On the other hand, BLOs say that they will continue the agitation until their demands are met. This time in West Bengal, controversies are coming to the fore regarding the SIR process, where BLOs are angry about the workload and short deadline, while political parties are also linking it to election transparency.

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