Explaining BLOs burden in SIR: 1 official, 956 voters, and 30 days – Is it too much?

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll is proceeding as per plan and strategy, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said and keeps saying on its social media handles since the day the entire exercise has been announced in nine states and three Union Territories (UTs). But is it the case? The recent row around the deaths of booth level officers (BLOs), and accusation of mounting work pressure has left the poll panel in a corner, but the exercise is continuing.

With the deadline of Dec 4, 2025 for the enumeration stage approaching, and protests only increasing; the question remains – why is there so much chaos against an exercise, which is not new for the country. 

And still, multiple states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bengal and UP have reached the Supreme Court. Why?

BLOs deaths, timeline in question

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar cited the example of Bihar for conducting the SIR. But the ruckus, and suicides were something they had not expected. The suicide of a BLO in Kerala ignited fire, which has now spread through West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Tam il Nadu. 

A protest has swept through all these states against the strict timeline of the entire exercise. The enumeration form stage began on Nov 4 and the deadline to fill the form is Dec 4. The BLOs have to meet voters, give forms, answer numerous calls, and above all – ensure the forms are collected and the data is entered correctly. 

Gyanesh Kumar had honoured the BLOs in Bihar during his press address to announce election dates of Bihar on October 6. But the same BLOs in Bengal staged a huge protest outside the office of Chief Electoral Officer. Reason – work overload. 

Is work overload a truth? Here’s what numbers say

In Bihar, the enumeration was done in one month and no such protest and suicide was reported. But the situation has turned totally different in other states. Two BLOs died in each Bengal and Madhya Pradesh; one each in Kerala, UP, Rajasthan. Reports say there are more. 

Bihar had 7.89 crore voters when the revision began. And a total of 90,712 BLOs were appointed. BLOs are the foundation of this process, which one can call a mini-census in itself. 

On average, a BLO had 869 voters to cater to in Bihar in 30 days. This includes visiting their homes, giving them forms, ensuring the forms are filled and submitted and all this while, the calls and questions they have to answer. 

The BLOs in MP, Bengal and Kerala have questioned the timing of the exercise. The husband of one of the deceased BLOs in Bengal said his wife was exhausted every day. He added she wanted to resign, but the officials did not accept it. 

In his Indian Express column months back, social worker Yogendra Yadav had written, “The SIR is not limited to Bihar. Bihar is just a pilot. The ECI has directed that preparations for the exercise begin in the rest of the country, even as the Supreme Court is examining its legality.”

Similarly, 12 states/UTs were chosen for Phase 2. 

In these states/UTs, the total number of voters is 50,97,44,423. There are 5,32,828 for these voters, which means 956 voters per BLO. 

3 visits and 30 days

Each BLO has been instructed to make at least three visits to the house of the voter which is found to be locked or if the voter is not available. Besides this, the BLO is responsible to deliver forms to the house of every 956 electors he has been assigned for. 

The uncertainty around the exercise also needs to be taken care of by the BLOs – because they are the primary link for the people. Now, let us see the state wise number and strengths of voters and BLOs.

According to the above table, Goa has a minimum of 687 voters per BLO, while Kerala has the highest -1094 voters per BLO. This is just the mathematical representation from the ECI’s official release. 

Overall, as stated before, one BLO has the responsibility of 956 voters throughout the enumeration stage. If the work progresses conveniently, every BLO has to visit 31 voters’ houses. Sometimes, many of these are from one family, but still, the number of forms remains the same. 

This considering the BLO works throughout the month, without taking any leave or rest. If even Sundays are included, the number of voters to visit per day would significantly increase. But these are all on papers. On the ground, some BLOs have alleged that they were assigned a nearby region, village or tola instead of another BLO. And then comes the clause of three visits in case of elector’s unavailability.

The task distribution, they alleged, is not homogenous, and hence the stress. 

According to ECI, there are resources better than what was available during the last SIR in 2002-04, but the process still needs to be understood by the voters in the age of misinformation. The booth level officers are being targeted.

Kerala CEO Rathan U Kelkar said the targets are only to ensure the work is completed on time, and not to pressurise the workers. However, the two go hand in hand. So far, the ECI has not said a word on the ongoing resistance by the BLOs, and the SIR, continues across 12 states and UTs.

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