Bengaluru Booth Level Officers report abuse and exhaustion during voter drive
Booth Level Officers (BLOs) conducting the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across Bengaluru, including neighbourhoods like Greenwood Layout on Varanasi Main Road, are facing intense physical and emotional exhaustion, reporting safety concerns, unrealistic targets, and abusive behavior from residents during the door-to-door voter verification exercise. The workers, who include government school teachers, anganwadi workers, and other government staff, are struggling to balance their primary professional duties with demanding election tasks.
Several BLOs, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described the exercise as "mental torture." Officers are expected to distribute and upload between 150 and 200 forms every day, covering nearly 1,500 voters across multiple areas. Many report working until 7:30 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. before commuting home.
Locating houses has also become a significant challenge. The house numbers on the official voter lists rarely match the physical sequence on the roads, forcing workers to spend hours searching for addresses. Additionally, because the names and phone numbers of the BLOs are printed on stickers pasted outside residents' houses, workers report receiving inquiry calls from strangers as late as 10:00 p.m. or 11:00 p.m., causing stress for their families.
Safety has emerged as a major concern, particularly for female officers deployed in rural pockets who must visit multiple villages alone. Some workers reported facing verbal abuse from residents when requesting them to step outside to complete paperwork, while others expressed fear when entering certain localities.
The workload has also disrupted primary government services. One anganwadi worker noted that her election duties have left her with no time to distribute newly arrived rations at her centre or complete her daily reporting.
Technical discrepancies on the voter rolls have further complicated the process. In Greenwood Layout on Varanasi Main Road, resident Srikanth Pandilapali discovered that his name and his father’s name had been altered in the electoral records to someone else's details, pointing to a lack of proper verification.
