Kolkata: Season of confusion has returned on the ground. Booth-level officers across the city, most of whom were engaged in census work after the conclusion of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, are again in a new flap over the EC’s special drive to include left-out and first-time voters, coinciding with the festive season. However, in the absence of a clear guideline on deciding factors pertaining to inclusion of voters deleted during the SIR exercise in the state, the BLOs are seeking clarity on the procedure that they have been asked to finish within a month.“The commission has directed the district election officers (DEOs) and electoral registration officers (EROs) to engage the BLOs for making a door-to-door visit to the voters whose names were deleted in the SIR and also for the enrolment of the first-time electors. The BLOs will give Form 6 to the eligible but deleted voters during this one month. Subsequently, the EROs will take necessary action,” a senior EC official said.However, the directive has not clearly mentioned whether the electors whose appeals are pending in tribunals would get Form 6 for inclusion of their names in the electoral rolls or not.On Monday, BLOs met EROs and flagged their concerns about the electors whose appeals are pending in tribunals, Form 6 inclusion that was earlier said to be meant for new voters only, and whether any document needs to be submitted.The BLOs said they did not get answers to their queries at a training session with EROs on Monday. They were instructed to make separate lists of deleted voters in three categories, such as logical discrepancy, no mapping and ASDD (absent, shifted, dead or duplicate). They were also asked to mark the new voters in separate categories based on their ages like 18-19 years, 19-21 years and 21 years and above.“Earlier, we were told that Form 6 was only meant for new or first-time electors, not for those who lost their voting rights during the SIR exercise. But now it is said that the left-out voters would be allowed to apply through Form 6. There is some confusion about the matter and the ERO told me that he did not have any direction from EC in this regard. I was told to start making the list of deleted voters immediately,” said a BLO from Jadavpur who attended the training session at New Treasury Building, Alipore on Monday.In a circular issued on Oct 1, the EC asked the BLOs to check the current electoral roll with the pre-SIR electoral roll and find the electors whose names were struck off. As per the circular, the BLOs will have to visit the houses of those deleted electors in their respective part numbers and facilitate them in applying for enrolment of their names in the electoral roll. The EC also instructed each BLO to reach out to 20-25 such electors a week to complete the exercise within one month.“What to do about the electors whose appeals are pending in the tribunal? Should I need to ask for any additional documents other than what they had already given during the SIR? I did not find my answers,” said another BLO from Kasba.Swapan Mondal, general secretary of Votekarmi O BLO Aikyamancha, said, “During the SIR we had pointed out the mistakes that were ignored. Genuine voters lost their electoral rights. Now BLOs are being engaged to make a list of deleted voters.”He also demanded security for the BLOs visiting the houses of deleted voters as per the EC’s direction.
