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Journalism of Courage
For the past three weeks, at 9 am sharp, Varsha Choudhary hopped onto a hired bike from her home in Aligarh’s Jatari town to reach Nagla Khurd primary school — 4 km away — where she is an assistant teacher.
After she marked her attendance, the bike then took her nearly 2 km to Nagal Kala village, where she carried out door-to-door verification work as a booth-level officer (BLO) — all while cradling her seven-month-old baby in her arms.
The 29-year-old has now become the first BLO from her district, among several tasked with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh, to complete the task ahead of the December 4 deadline.
“I began the SIR work on November 8 and completed it on Sunday morning, after which I submitted the report,” said Varsha, who hails from Baghpat.
She was assigned the responsibility of completing the SIR exercise for Booth No. 109 in the Khair constituency. “I started my fieldwork early every day, around 9 am, taking my baby with me… I made sure to return to my rented accommodation before sunset.”
She added, “The booth has a total of 555 voters, who live in Nagal Kala village. I completed the verification of every voter and submitted the full report.”
Her prompt work has drawn appreciation.
Confirming that Varsha is first woman in the Aligarh district to have completed the SIR assignment before the deadline, District Magistrate Sanjeev Ranjan said it was her dedication and strong work ethic that enabled her to finish the revision exercise.
K S Rana, District Coordinator for the Mid-Day Meal scheme, said, “Despite the demands of her household, Varsha completed the SIR work within the stipulated timeline by going door to door across her allotted area.”
Having joined the Education Department in 2020, Varsha has been balancing her job while single-handedly raising her child. Her husband, Akshay Tyagi, works at a private firm in Delhi.
Before the recent merger of primary schools carried out by the education department, Varsha was posted at the primary school in Nagal Kala village. Following the restructuring, her school was merged with the primary school in Nagla Khurd, where she is now posted.
The merged school caters to 63 students and has three teachers — all women. Varsha is the only one assigned BLO duty.
Asked if she faced problems during her work, she said, “There were some issues while uploading forms online, but I kept at it. Villagers were also supportive.”
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