BLO forum holds protest near Bengal CEO's office over 'deletion of genuine voters' in draft rolls

The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday published West Bengal's draft electoral rolls following the special intensive revision exercise (Image for representation)

Around 200 members of a forum of booth-level officers (BLOs) held a demonstration outside the West Bengal CEO's office in Kolkata on Tuesday, protesting against the alleged deletion of thousands of genuine voters in the draft electoral roll under the SIR.

Members of the 'BLO Oikyo Manch' (BLO Unity Platform) raised slogans against the Election Commission, alleging that the poll panel has "nexus with the BJP government at the Centre".

The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday published West Bengal's draft electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), deleting the names of more than 58 lakh voters on various grounds, including death, migration and non-submission of enumeration forms, officials said.

"The EC, despite repeated protests by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, went ahead with the draconian Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise to disenfranchise thousands of genuine voters," Sikha Dutta, an 'anganwadi' worker and a member of the forum, claimed at the protest site.

Earlier, the forum held a more-than-a-week-long protest outside the CEO's office, alleging that at least four BLOs had died due to stress over pressure to meet the SIR deadline, and demanded compensation.

The CEO later said not a single report about BLO's death over stress came to him.