As Kerala carries out the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, an audio message recorded by a booth-level officer (BLO) has gone viral, reported The Indian Express. In the clip, the officer compared the workload they were being given to “slave labour”, which led senior officials to contact him immediately.
Audio clip sparks concern during voter list revision
Kerala’s Chief Electoral Officer, Dr. Ratan Kelkar, and Kottayam District Collector, Chetan Kumar Meena, held an online meeting with the officer, Antony Varghese, who is in charge of the 110th booth in the Poonjar Assembly constituency.
In the audio circulated on Monday, Antony said the SIR duties had caused him heavy stress. He said that many people were returning the voter forms incomplete, forcing him to fill in basic details on their behalf. He also mentioned the lack of internet access and alleged that the Election Commission’s workload was affecting BLOs both physically and mentally.
“I have to fill in their basic data… There is no internet facility… The Election Commission and its officials are exploiting us both physically and mentally. This slave labour should be stopped,” he was heard saying in the audio clip.
Chief Electoral Officer gives option to quit
A press statement from the Chief Electoral Officer’s office said Antony was given the option to step down from his role, but he chose to continue. The district administration has now posted extra staff to assist him.
The issue comes soon after a BLO in Kannur died by suicide, which his family said was linked to stress from SIR duties.
Meanwhile, as Kerala nears the end of distribution of enumeration forms, around 2.13 lakh voters could not be traced. Officials believe most of these individuals may have either moved away or passed on.
A total of 2.78 crore enumeration forms must be distributed across the state, and about 27.42% of them have been digitised so far, according to the authorities.