In a final push to clean up the electoral rolls, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) across Kolkata embarked on a door-to-door mission on Thursday, seeking voters who have not returned their crucial SIR (Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls) enumeration forms. This effort comes just before a significant procedural shift, where from Friday onwards, such voters will be officially classified as "absentee voters" as per directives from the Election Commission of India.
A Daunting Number of Missing Voters
The scale of the challenge is substantial. According to a senior official from the Election Commission, the number of missing or untraceable voters in the state had reached a staggering close to 17,50,000 (1.75 million) by Wednesday evening. To tackle this massive task, the EC has enlisted the help of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) – representatives of political parties – to assist BLOs in locating these elusive electors.
The Commission has provided a structured framework for this cleanup, issuing separate forms across four distinct categories: deceased voters, voters who have shifted residences, untraceable voters, and cases of duplicate forms where one person received documents at two different addresses. As per standard EC protocol, the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are tasked with collecting these forms, which require signatures from the BLA, the BLO, and the BLO supervisor.
On the Ground: Challenges and Discrepancies
However, the process on the ground is encountering hurdles. Several BLOs reported that BLAs are refusing to sign the verification forms, even as EROs pressure them for swift submission. A BLO from south Kolkata shared an instance where a BLA outright refused to cooperate. Another official from central Kolkata highlighted a more complex issue: "The BLA of a political party has refused to sign the forms, while another BLA told me he will sign only after checking the list, in which I found some discrepancies," the BLO explained.
The official further revealed a critical error: "Today I spotted that the name of a voter, who's still alive, was on the dead voter's list." This discovery underscores the need for careful scrutiny, a luxury time does not afford. "I need some time to scrutinise and rectify the errors, but the ERO is mounting pressure on me for submission of details," the BLO added, referring to the 'Uncollectible' form category.
BLOs in the Trenches
Amidst this pressure, BLOs are striving to meet their targets. Jonaki Ghosh, a BLO in Dhakuria, had set Thursday as her deadline for form collection, planning to start segregating shifted and deceased voters from Friday. "I have 904 voters in my part, and around 120 are untraceable, some of whom have shifted to other areas, and some are deceased. So, as per EC instructions, I will start preparing a separate list of untraceable voters on different grounds," Ghosh stated.
Similarly, Samya Ghosh, a BLO on Arabinda Sarani, was seen knocking on the door of a voter who had delayed form submission. Ghosh's booth presents a similar picture: "Out of 946 voters in my part, almost 200 were untraceable." Detailing the day's work, Ghosh said, "I visited some residences today to collect forms that were not collected before. Some have been collected, but a few forms are yet to be collected, which I am trying to complete by 12 noon on Friday. After that, I will start marking untraceable voters as absent."
The race against time is palpable. With the Friday noon deadline looming for many, the transition from active pursuit to official classification of absent voters marks a critical phase in Kolkata's electoral roll revision process, aiming to ensure accuracy and integrity for future polls.
