Uttar Pradesh: 21 BLOs booked in Ghaziabad for alleged negligence in voter list revision duties

The police in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad have booked 21 booth-level officers for alleged negligence in carrying out their duties related to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in the state, The Indian Express reported on Friday.

“Negligence is being shown in digitisation and full cooperation/contribution is not being given in election-related work,” the newspaper quoted the first information report as stating.

The revision exercise is underway in 12 states and Union Territories, including Uttar Pradesh. Booth-level officers began distributing enumeration forms on November 4.

Booth-level officers are typically primary school teachers and anganwadi or health care workers, who are employed by state governments. They are responsible for distributing and collecting enumeration forms as part of the ongoing exercise.

They are required to go door-to-door, check the identities of new voters and verify the details of those who have died or permanently moved out of an area.

Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Mandar was quoted as saying by The Indian Express that there are 3,089 booths in Ghaziabad with more than 28 lakh voters.

Only 30% of the work related to the voter roll revision had been completed, said Mandar, adding that an FIR was registered against the booth-level officers for their “carelessness”.

He stated that the FIR would be withdrawn if the work is completed, as it was registered only “to teach sincerity” to the booth-level officers.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Alok Kumar Yadav, the station house officer of Sihani Gate Police Station in Ghaziabad.

It stated that some booth-level officers were “not providing the required cooperation in election-related work” and “deliberately obstructing the election process”.

The voter roll revision process is scheduled to take place until December 4.

On Monday, reports stated that more than 60 booth-level officers and seven supervisors were booked in Noida for allegedly failing to comply with orders from senior officials during the revision process.

In Bahraich district, the administration has ordered FIRs against five booth-level officers, withheld salaries of 42 personnel and suspended a village-level revenue officer for alleged negligence.

In addition to Uttar Pradesh, the voter rolls are also being revised in West Bengal, Kerala, Rajasthan, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep.

The draft electoral rolls for the 12 states and Union Territories will be published on December 9. Voters can file claims and objections from December 9 to January 8, while hearings and verifications will take place from December 9 to January 31. The final electoral rolls are to be published on February 7.

In Bihar, where the revision was completed ahead of the Assembly polls in November, at least 47 lakh voters were excluded from the final electoral roll published on September 30.

Concerns had been raised after the announcement in Bihar that the exercise could remove eligible voters from the roll. Several petitioners also moved the Supreme Court against it.

Source: Scroll
Related Posts: Uttar Pradesh Police verify Muzaffarnagar riot victims Allahabad HC criticises Uttar Pradesh Police for practice of shooting accused persons in legs Shinde Sena MLA booked after video shows him entering polling booth as woman votes How booth-level officers in Bihar are deleting voters arbitrarily Kerala CEO commends Booth Level Officers 2.8 cr names struck off in Uttar Pradesh's draft electoral roll Ghaziabad police official threatens citizens with ‘device to identify Bangladeshis’ Three minor sisters die after jumping off ninth-floor in Ghaziabad Adani Group in talks with Uttar Pradesh to set up nuclear power project Final electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh to be released on April 10