The Supreme Court on Tuesday came heavily on the Election Commission of India (ECI) and asked it to manage the chaos around the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), or the situation will lead to “anarchy” in the country. The Supreme Court also issued a notice on a plea seeking deployment of central forces to protect Booth Level Officers (BLOs) involved in the SIR process in West Bengal.
Expressing concerns that politicians are increasingly approaching the Court for publicity, the top court noted that only one FIR has been filed regarding threats to BLOs, while other incidents cited are old. The Election Commission’s counsel supported providing security to BLOs.
‘…We’ll pass orders’
Taking a serious note of BLOs being threatened, SIR work being hindered in West Bengal and other states, the apex court asked the poll body to monitor lack of cooperation by different state governments in SIR work. It said that they would pass orders if such instances are brought in front of them.
“Bring to our notice instances of lack of cooperation, threatening of BLOs; we’ll pass orders,” the bench, headed by CJI Surya Kant, said. The SC added ,”If situation aggravates, there would be no option but to take police under deputation.”
Meanwhile, the ECI has informed the top court that it has all “constitutional powers to deal with threatening of BLOs and other officials engaged in SIR work”.
SIR and BLOs deaths
The ongoing SIR in 12 states and UTs sparked a massive row after a number of BLOs, engaged in the SIR work, died by suicide due to alleged work pressure. Many argued the one-month timeline is not enough for such a large exercise, where in one BLO has to oversee the details of at least 956 voters on average.
The situation worsened in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. After multiple protests, and meeting with political parties, the ECI extended the SIR process by one week across the 12 states and UTs. However, the debate around the exercise continue to be the core issue as of now.