Noida: With the deadline for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls extended twice, booth-level officers (BLOs) are questioning why they were pushed to complete an exhaustive and complex exercise within an initial one-month window, a pressure they said came at a high physical and emotional cost.The original schedule required digitisation of enumeration forms by Dec 4. That deadline was first extended to Dec 11. Earlier this week, the Election Commission revised the timeline again, extending UP’s enumeration period to Dec 26 and postponing the publication of draft electoral rolls to Dec 31 from Dec 16.
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For many BLOs, the extensions have brought not just relief but also frustration. “If this flexibility is possible now, why wasn’t it possible earlier?” asked a senior GhaziabadBLO. “The work would still have been done, but without pushing people to illness and distress.”The initial timeline triggered widespread complaints of exhaustion and anxiety. Earlier this month, a BLO in Ghaziabad died, with his family claiming that the strain of SIR work aggravated his existing illness. In Nov, an assistant teacher in Bisrakh block had resigned from her post, citing health concerns and distress linked to her duties as a BLO. In a letter to the election officer, Pinky Singh said managing teaching alongside BLO work had become unmanageable and sought directions on handing over election materials. “Under these circumstances, continuing teaching work or carrying out BLO responsibilities is no longer possible for me,” she wrote, requesting to be relieved of all duties.Several BLOs told TOI that the pressure to meet initial targets had forced them to continue fieldwork despite fever, chronic pain or medical advice to rest. A primary school teacher, who is doubling up as a BLO from Dadri, recalled working through illness as her entire family battled a viral infection in mid-Nov. “My two toddler sons, husband and I were all sick. My husband works in a private company and could take sick leave. I did not have that option,” she said. “I went to my booth with chest congestion and a fever because we were told the work had to be completed within the deadline. If I had known the date could be extended, I would not have taken so much mental and physical pressure.”Another woman BLO, who is posted as a primary school teacher in Surajpur, said the exercise worsened her pre-existing health condition. “I have varicose veins, and the problem got aggravated during SIR because we had to walk for hours every day,” she said. “My feet were swollen, but I continued even after the doctor advised rest. There was a constant fear that action would be taken if we missed even one day.”Beyond health, the month-long grind also took a toll on personal lives. A BLO from Ghaziabad said he missed his nephew’s wedding, an event he had been preparing for months. “He is like my own son,” he said. “I was supposed to be there for every ritual. But during SIR, taking even a single day off felt impossible.Targets and reviews never stopped.” On the wedding day, he was still carrying out field verification and uploading data. “I joined the ceremony on a video call late at night. That guilt will stay with me,” he said. “Elections are important, but we are human beings too, not machines.”Officials in Noida and Ghaziabad said more than 70% of BLOs have completed 100% digitisation of enumeration forms, while mapping names with 2003 base rolls has reached close to 70%. But instead of respite, the deadline extension has meant fresh assignments. BLOs who completed their targets early have now been asked to re-verify “absent, shifted, dead” (ASD) voters adding to resentment.“We thought Dec 11 would finally be the end,” said a BLO from Greater Noida, who has completed full digitisation. “Many of us were working till 11pm every night to meet the deadline. Now the date has been extended, and instead of relief, we are being given re-verification work.”Supervisors drawn from other departments describe an equally punishing schedule. An irrigation department official overseeing 10 BLOs in Sector 7x areas said the exercise pushed supervisors to the brink. “Each BLO was under pressure, but supervisors were under 10 times more stress,” he said. “We had to cover multiple booths in a day. If there was a dispute or a BLO got stuck, we had to rush to resolve it. On top of that, there were constant meetings with senior officials, fresh directives on SIR, and then the task of relaying those instructions to the field.”Recalling the peak phase of the exercise, he said, “Between Nov 4 and Dec 4, I would reach home close to midnight almost every day after reviewing reports from each BLO. By 7am, I was back on the field. It went on like this for a full month.”The pressure intensified with the administration’s resort to punitive action against staff falling behind targets. FIRs, disciplinary proceedings and termination notices during the revision period heightened anxiety among field workers.On Nov 27, an FIR was registered against 21 BLOs in Ghaziabad’s Sahibabad constituency after the electoral registration officer alleged negligence in SIR work. Five days earlier, Noida administration lodged FIRs against 60 BLOs and seven supervisors for non-compliance and ignoring official directions. On Nov 21, termination notices were issued to 181 anganwadi workers deployed as BLOs in the city after their digitisation progress was found to be below 5%.“Once FIRs started happening, everyone panicked,” said a BLO from Noida. “People worked even when they should have been resting because nobody wanted their name to be next.”With the SIR deadline now extended twice, many BLOs said the system eventually accepted that more time was needed for an exercise of this scale and complexity. “But by then, people had already paid the price with their health, their families and their peace of mind,” another BLO said.
