Five BLOs suspended after SIR forms found at Kharghar xerox shop
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Mumbai: The recovery of about 3,400 Special Intensive Revision forms from a photocopy shop in Navi Mumbai’s Kharghar has triggered an inquiry, with five booth-level officers suspended and a criminal case registered in connection with the incident.
The Raigad district collector placed the five BLOs under suspension pending disciplinary action after the voter-related forms were found at the private xerox outlet.
Police have filed an FIR against Suraj Patil under provisions of the Representation of the People Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. He has been accused of unauthorised possession of the SIR forms.
The matter came to public attention after Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) workers allegedly confronted a man at the photocopy centre. They claimed that he was associated with the BJP’s youth wing and was getting the forms photocopied.
A video of the confrontation was circulated widely on social media, following which district officials began examining how forms filled in by voters had ended up at a private photocopy shop.
A BJP leader from Panvel, who was not identified, denied that the party or its workers had any role in the incident.
During the inquiry, officials reportedly found forms linked to 11 polling stations. A bulk of the recovered documents were from five booths, while isolated copies were traced to six other polling stations.
NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Rohit Pawar said the action against the BLOs was inadequate and called for accountability to extend to those who may have instructed them.
“In this case, some face-saving action was taken because vigilant citizens brought the matter to light,” Pawar said in a social media post. “But what about several other such cases that have not yet become public? This is also a question that the Election Commission must answer.”