‘Workload, threat from officials, server issues, anonymous calls at night’: BLOs stage protest at Ahmedabad centre 

The 246 AMC School Board teachers working as BLOs cited ‘undue pressure and threats’ from the officials to achieve the SIR target.

“When we informed the officials that we are not able to find the names of voters in the 2002 voter list for mapping, I was rudely told that I have to search voters only from Amraiwadi constituency and not from the rest of the country. There is no solution or help offered to us but they (election officials) put pressure on us to achieve the target,” one of the protesting teachers told The Indian Express.

The BLOs, especially the female teachers, meanwhile complained that with their mobile numbers being made public they are getting abusive calls at night.

“From submitting voter forms as only absent, shifted, death (ASD) to mapping of each voter, the BLOs are unnecessarily being threatened and pressured to complete the work. On one side it is the officials, on the other we get anonymous abusive calls. The major lapse on the part of the government is that they did not spread awareness among people. Hardly anyone fills the forms and asks us to do that,” the BLO said.

Further, with the server issue affecting the uploading work, teachers are called to do the task even at night.

“We would get calls from our seniors even at midnight or 1 am asking us to do the data entry and upload names for mapping when the server starts functioning. There is no time for us to spend time with family for the last three weeks,” another BLO told The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity.

The BLOs also complained that they are asked to reach the centre at 7 am followed by field work till 1 pm and returning to the field at 3 pm after lunch break. “After that there is no time limit, we are asked to be available whenever required,” the BLO said.

“This is not 20 days’ work, but it requires at least 60 days. This is not the issue of Amraiwadi Vidhan Sabha but all constituencies in Ahmedabad,” the BLO added.

“Despite working so hard, BLOs are being threatened. Despite repeated requests made to the authorities,  there is no heed to our issues. BLOs have clearly stated that they need technical staff and additional support staff for mapping. Also, BLOs also demanded that they should not be forced to work in the areas outside their wards,” Manoj Patel, president of the Ahmedabad Municipal Teachers Association, told The Indian Express.

Later in the evening, Patel said that authorities agreed to work on these issues and come with appropriate solutions.

When contacted, Sagar Kapadia deputy mamlatdar supervising Amraiwadi Assembly constituency work of the SIR told The Indian Express, “The BLO issues have been addressed. The server issue was there initially but it is working fine now.”

At present, 50,963 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are performing their duties across the state.

According to the updated voter list, a total of 5.08 crore voters are registered in the state.

On Wednesday, the Chief Electoral Office stated that the distribution of enumeration forms for the SIR has been completed in eight districts. Dang has recorded the highest (85.53 per cent) digitisation in Gujarat as on Wednesday.

The counting phase of the SIR will begin on December 4.