NEW DELHI: From hostile residents and shifting households to flooded lanes and tight deadlines, booth-level officers (BLOs) engaged in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Delhi’s electoral rolls say the exercise has become a daily test of patience and endurance, news agency PTI reported.For most BLOs, the work begins well before they knock on the first door. Armed with stacks of enumeration forms, registers and mobile phones, they spend entire days going door-to-door distributing forms, verifying details and returning later to collect the completed documents. Once the fieldwork ends, they are required to digitise the collected data.Many of the BLOs are government school teachers, anganwadi workers and other government employees assigned election duties alongside, or in place of, their regular responsibilities.“The exercise is time-bound. We have been given only a few days to distribute forms and digitise records. There is pressure to move quickly because so many voters have to be covered,” Abhishek, a BLO posted in Okhla, told PTI.Besides the heavy workload, BLOs said they frequently encounter rude behaviour from residents.Recalling an incident on Thursday evening, Abhishek said he had been distributing enumeration forms when a resident, who had accepted the form, refused to sign the acknowledgement copy.“I requested him to sign because we have to maintain our records. He said he was having dinner and asked me to come later. I then asked him to return the form so that I could give it to him later and get the second form signed at the same time. Instead, he started shouting at me, saying I was wasting his time,” he said.Several BLOs told PTI that repeated visits have become routine because many residents are away at work during the day.“Very often, nobody is home during the first visit. We have to return in the evening or on another day. Sometimes one address requires three or four visits before the verification is completed,” said Nitin, a BLO from Mayur Vihar.He said residents often refuse to cooperate despite repeated explanations.“There are days when people refuse to cooperate or even speak politely. We cannot argue. We simply move on and return later because our responsibility is to ensure every eligible voter is covered,” he said.The demanding nature of the exercise came into focus after a teacher engaged in the Special Intensive Revision exercise allegedly attempted to take his own life by jumping from the Rani Jhansi Flyover on Wednesday afternoon.Sources said the 45-year-old mathematics teacher, Anand Saroha, is undergoing treatment at a hospital for multiple injuries, including fractures in both arms that require surgery. Preliminary investigation suggests he had been under severe mental distress related to his professional responsibilities, PTI reported.BLOs said the exercise becomes even more challenging in unauthorised colonies and government quarters, where residents frequently shift and addresses often change.Locating houses, particularly in unauthorised colonies, is among the biggest challenges, several BLOs said.Junaid, a BLO working in northeast Delhi, said house numbers in many colonies no longer correspond with the present layout after repeated subdivisions and redevelopment.“One address can have more than 10 houses carrying the same number because larger plots were divided over the years. Recently, I spent almost an hour searching for a single address. People kept sending me from one lane to another until finally a shopkeeper identified the family,” he said.In some localities, the same house may have voters assigned to different BLOs, he added.Bankey Lal, a BLO posted in Geeta Colony, said duplicate voter registrations also lead to unpleasant interactions.“There are cases where elderly people are registered both in Delhi and their native villages. We advise them to keep their registration where they ordinarily reside, but some become aggressive and question us. We only explain the rules and submit our verification,” he said.For many BLOs, the work continues long after they return home.Manish, a teacher in his 50s serving as a BLO, said digitisation has been one of the most difficult aspects of the exercise.“Everything has to be uploaded digitally. Learning the app, scanning documents and entering every detail correctly takes me much longer. Whenever there’s a technical issue, I often seek help from my son or younger colleagues,” he said.Some teacher-BLOs also told PTI that there is confusion over relieving orders, with certain school authorities insisting on formal communication from their parent departments before allowing them to report for election duty.(With agency inputs)
