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Kolkata, Oct 29 (IANS) The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal on Wednesday set the deadline for all booth level officers (BLOs) to report for election duty by 12 noon on Thursday.
An insider in the CEO office said that BLOs who have not yet collected their nomination papers despite being selected have been asked to collect the nomination papers by 12 noon on Thursday.
The CEO office has also warned of disciplinary action against BLOs who do not comply with the time limit instructions.
The CEO office has directed the District Magistrates as well as District Election Officers to monitor the entire process and ensure that the BLOs of their respective districts comply with the deadline in this regard.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has the power to direct the State Government to suspend any State Government employee appointed as BLO or any returning officer on charges of non-compliance, and also direct the concerned State Government to register cases against these erring officials.
The special intensive revision (SIR) for 12 Indian states, including West Bengal, was announced by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar earlier this week, and the first phase of the three-phase revision exercise will begin from November 4.
BLOs are at the bottom of the pyramid of returning officers and their role is most important in the first phase of the three-stage voter list process.
In the first phase, BLOs will reach door to door with counting forms and collect details of the concerned voters.
The draft voter list in the state will be announced at the end of the first phase of SIR.
In the second phase, any political party or individual voter will be able to register their complaints on the draft list, which will be addressed by the ECI.
In the third and final phase, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will resolve complaints received from individual political parties or voters, after which the final voter list will be published.
The entire SIR process is likely to be completed by March 2026.
The last time SIR was conducted in West Bengal was in 2002.
–IANS
src/khz