6 months ago
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The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal Manoj Kumar Agarwal connected Monday (November 24, 2025) said that helium met with officials of the Ministry of Telecom and representatives of each telecom work providers to guarantee uninterrupted net connectivity for the digitisation of enumeration forms by booth-level officials during the Special Intensive Revision for West Bengal’s electoral roll.
This comes successful the aftermath of a conception of BLOs raising concerns astir the unavailability of high-speed net indispensable for the digitisation process of enumeration forms. Disgruntled BLOs besides claimed that the task of digitising thousands of enumeration forms done the BLO mobile app has added to their mounting workload, and has go particularly unmanageable for the older BLOs who aren’t technologically savvy.
“Connectivity issues tin beryllium determination successful a fewer places for a fewer hours oregon fewer days but the occupation isn’t determination for the full clip to come. The achromatic zones are precise fewer successful number. We person told the artifact improvement officers and territory predetermination officials that centralised spaces tin beryllium determination with wi-fi connectivity. Many radical tin beryllium unneurotic and bash the digitisation enactment there,” helium said.
On Monday (November 24, 2025), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar raising questions connected wherefore the CEO’s bureau floated a Request for Proposal for hiring 1,000 information introduction operators and 50 bundle developers for a play of 1 year.
“When territory offices already person a important fig of competent professionals performing specified functions, what necessitates the CEO’s inaugural to outsource the aforesaid enactment done an outer bureau for a afloat year?” the Chief Minister asked successful her letter.
This assumes value successful airy of demands raised by a conception of BLOs for the assignment of information introduction operators to digitise each enumeration forms by December 4 amidst complaints of the workload becoming untenable alongside their regular jobs and door-to-door visits for SIR.
On Monday (November 24, 2025), hundreds of BLOs gathered extracurricular the CEO’s bureau to protest amidst dense constabulary deployment successful the area.
“It is simply a argumentation determination of the Election Commission of India not to usage contractual information introduction operators. It was lone connected the proposal of ECI the tender was taken out, successful consonance with the tender arsenic taken retired successful Bihar, and it has been sent to the concern section for approval. All the owed process has been maintained,” Mr Agarwal said connected Monday.
He added that 14,997 caller polling booths are connected the brink of support and that the aforesaid fig of further BLOs person been mobilised for the same.
As of now, 80,681 BLOs are moving for an adjacent fig of polling booths crossed 294 assembly constituencies. Each polling booth astir has 950 to 1000 electors.
‘Uncollectable forms’
The CEO further said that immoderate signifier that is not received by predetermination officials signed by the elector volition beryllium deleted from the draught roll. As of 4 p.m. connected November 24, 10.33 lakh enumeration forms person not been collected by electors.
“This applies to cases wherever the electors person permanently shifted oregon are absent. We are going by the code arsenic of October 27, 2025. If the code oregon gathering doesn’t exist, the BLO goes thrice and checks with locals and booth-level agents. When there’s nary scope astatine all, they go ‘uncollectable’,” Mr. Agarwal said, responding to a question by The Hindu.
He added that the names of electors whose names were connected the voters database arsenic of October 27 this twelvemonth but would beryllium missing from the draught rotation during SIR connected grounds of not collecting the enumeration form, volition beryllium divided into 4 to 5 categories and published successful the nationalist domain.
“So if anybody (cannot find their) sanction successful the draught list, they tin marque an entreaty oregon kick oregon alteration their details aft the draught rotation is published,” the CEO said.
