The remarks on Booth Level Officers (BLOs) made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well as Opposition BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, amid talks of the impending Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, have raised concerns among teachers who are deputed as BLOs by the Election Commission.
Some of the teachers are apprehensive about their security while doing the BLO duty amid the politically charged climate in the state. “The EC is assuring proper security to us, but we don’t know if that would be enough. Such political war of words creates panic and tension in rural areas of West Bengal, and we will end up being the target of voters. So, we have decided not to take up the BLO duty,” Neelkantha Ghosh, a secondary school teacher, said.
Ghosh was referring to remarks made by the chief minister as well as BJP MLA Adhikari.
At an administrative review meeting in Birbhum three days ago, the chief minister said the BLOs should “ensure that not a single name is removed from the voter’s list” when the EC conducts the SIR in the state. Telling BLOs not to harass the voters during the survey, she reminded them that they are officials of the state government and work for the Election Commission only for a brief period during the elections.
The chief minister also urged people to protest if the BLO deletes their names from the voters’ list.
On the other hand, BJP’s Adhikari has alleged that a large number of Rohingya and illegal Bangladesh nationals have been enlisted in the electoral roll, and asked the BLOs to take a lead role in deleting the names of illegal immigrants and “fictitious” voters from the voters’ list. The BJP leader has also complained to the EC against the chief minister, saying “her attempt to intimidate and manipulate the electoral process by instructing BLOs is an unauthorized attempt to dilute the voters’ lists for political gain”.
To resist getting deployed as BLOs, over a thousand teachers and non-teaching staff of non-government aided schools have come together to form an outfit, BLO-duty Protirodh Mancha.
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The outfit in a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal has sought exemption from BLO duty, citing workload pressure due to the newly introduced semester exams in schools.
“The teachers are for the development of students. We should concentrate on their education, not on other work. We have already been assigned too many non-educational work. That should not be increased,” said another teacher, Srimanta Dhara.
According to Ghosh, due to semester exams, it would be difficult for them to take part in the SIR, which can be held as early as August. “How can we be engaged in such a huge task during the semester examination. So, our demand is to keep the teachers out of the process for the revision of voters’ list,” he added.
A government employee, on condition of anonymity, said, “Not only teachers, we are also afraid of our security during revision of the electoral roll. Teachers can raise their voice easily as more than 80 per cent of them are partially dependent on the government funds. We are straightway dependent on the state government, and if the head of the government threatens us, where will we go?”
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Meanwhile, a senior officer in the State Chief Electoral Office said, “We are arranging sufficient security arrangements for all the BLOs. But we are not divulging what type of arrangements.”
According to the officer, the Election Commission would need over 80,000 BLOs for the revision of the electoral rolls. “If the government employees, including the teachers, panic, then it would be difficult to make the final list of BLOs for the revision. Our CEO met the Chief Election Commissioner in Delhi. He will return on Friday. After that, we will make our final plan,” the officer added.
