The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday wrote to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal directing the preparation of the list of booth level agents (BLA) at the earliest. This comes ahead of a possible Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state.

In the letter to CEO Manoj Agarwal, ECI Under Secretary Sanjay Kumar stated, “The entire exercise of SIR will be incomplete without active participation of the political parties, and BLAs, appointed by the political parties, have to play (an) important role in the SIR activities. Therefore, all the political parties must be informed in writing, and they should be persuaded for the appointment of BLAs immediately so that these BLAs are in (the) field during SIR and they can bring out any kind of anomaly to notice.”

“You are, therefore, requested to submit information to the Commission regarding the number of PSs (polling stations), number of BLOs (booth level officers), number of BLO Supervisors and BLAs, immediately without any delay,” it said.

The letter referred to the SIR process in Bihar, before stating, “All the CEOs (except Bihar) were also requested to complete all the pre-revision activities including rationalisation of polling stations having electors more than 1,200 electors, filling up all the vacant posts of EROs/AEROs/BLOs/Supervisors, appointment of additional BLOs having regard to electors within 1,200 electors in single polling station.”

It added, “… Considering the magnitude of the work involved in the SIR activities, a BLO must be appointed for a single PS and BLO Supervisor should not be given charge of more than 10 PSs.”

Notably, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has opposed the ECI’s directive on submission of BLA lists. She argued that political parties are not bound to disclose their booth agents’ names in advance and expressed concern that such lists might be leaked, allowing rival parties access.

Her comments came amid concerns raised by both ruling TMC and opposition BJP over the role of BLOs, ahead of the SIR process. Teachers deputed as BLOs have expressed apprehensions over their security while on duty in what they say is a politically charged atmosphere.