Services of BLOs required during second phase of SIR also, says order

Orders have been issued extending the ‘duty-off period’ granted to booth-level officers (BLO) up to January 22 observing that their services are required till the end of ‘claims and objections’ and notice phases of the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.

During these phases, the BLOs are “required to undertake timely field verification and submit verification reports in respect of applications received for new enrolment, deletion, and correction,” Rathan Kelkar, Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) and Secretary, Election Department, Kerala government, said in a December 22 order.

The order notes that the BLOs are expected to perform the following duties related to SIR; ‘Re-verification of discrepancies in the forms and cases of ‘unmapped’ voters,’ and serving notices to electors.

They are required to collect notices issued by the electoral registration officers and serve the notices on the elector and obtain an acknowledgement on the second copy, as each notice is issued in duplicate.

BLOs are also required to upload the signed second copy of the notice through the BLO App. The presence of the BLO concerned is also mandatory during the hearing, the order says.