BLO protests likely to disrupt SIR in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan

Thiruvananthapuram: Several trade unions of Kerala government employees have taken out protests at the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office in Thiruvananthapuram and district collectorates demanding authorities to stop pressuring Booth Level Officer (BLOs) involved in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, The Indian Express reported.

The protests in Kerala follows the alleged suicide of Aneesh George, the BLO for booth number 18 under Payyanur Assembly seat in Kannur district.

The 44-year-old, an office attendant at a school, was found dead in his house with his family and friends alleging that he was under pressure to complete his revision work by December 4, the stipulated time.

Complaining of ‘excessive workload and unreasonable demands and targets’ , Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are threatening to disrupt the revision process of electoral rolls in at least three states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. On Monday, BLOs in the state boycotted work protesting George’s “suicide”.

The ruling CPI(M) and Opposition the Congress in Kerala have demanded postponing the SIR process until the local body elections are over.

Kannur District Collector Arun K Vijayan, also the district electoral officer, in his report on George’s death said the BLO was not under any work pressure, adding that George was given 1,065 enumeration forms for distribution, of which only 50 forms remained to be distributed.

In line with protests in Kerala, the Federation of Associations of Revenue Employees (FERA) in Tamil Nadu announced statewide boycott of the revision process from November 18 in protest alleging workload and unreasonable targets.

FERA urged the CEO of Tamil Nadu to cut down work pressures and mental stress that BLOs face from the ongoing SIR exercise.

The trade union demanded authorities to give more time for the revision, proper training for officials, additional staff and volunteers.

They also called for ending midnight review meetings, mandatory holiday work, and sought honorarium equal to one month’s salary for the workload involved.

In Rajasthan’s Jaipur, Mukesh Jangid, 45, a government school teacher appointed as BLO, died after jumping in front of a running train on Sunday.

The Indian Express quoted Bindayaka police station in-charge Vinod Kumar as saying: ‘A suicide note was recovered from his body which stated that he was facing extreme work pressure from his supervisor. He was asked to complete his target of the SIR process or he will be suspended. He stated in the note that he wasn’t able to sleep at night for the last few days’.