Don’t pressure booth-level officers: UP CEO amid deaths of poll officials

Says 70% digitisation work complete in UP

UP SIR Form Guide: You can get the SIR enumeration form from the booth-level officer (BLO) or access it online (Express Photo by Parul Kulshrestha)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa on Sunday said the work of digitising enumeration forms under the SIR was progressing rapidly across the state, adding more than 10.75 crore forms — nearly 70 per cent of the total voters — have already been digitised.

“The BLOs have also completed the digitisation process at 9,177 polling stations so far, marking a significant step toward finalizing the electoral roll,” the CEO said.

The CEO has, meanwhile, instructed all District Election Officers (DEOs) to ensure that their staff, particularly Booth Level Officers (BLOs), do not feel any unnecessary mental pressure or rush to meet deadlines.

He emphasised that there is adequate time to finish the remaining work, and any BLO who is lagging behind for genuine reasons must be provided a proper support and assistance to complete their tasks smoothly.

The CEO’s instruction comes amid deaths of BLOs, most of whom allegedly died of “SIR work stress”.

The latest one was reported from Moradabad, where a BLo was found dead at his home. Police said a purported suicide note of 42-year-old Sarvesh Singh stated that he was under stress for “not being able to meet the SIR-related targets on time due to lack of proper guidance”.

Meanwhile, a 56-year-old woman BLO in Bijnor district died of a cardiac arrest on Saturday night. Her husband said she was a diabetes patient and had been unwell for some time, but continued working late into Friday night, uploading SIR forms online.

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