BJP forms national coordination committee on SIR; panel to review BLO safety across country

By Toshi Mandola
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 29 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party has formed a national coordination team on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across 13 states. The team has plans to go to various states, review the ongoing revision process and flag any discrepancies or problems the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) might be facing across the country.
Following the announcement by the Election Commission to conduct phase 2 of SIR of electoral rolls across 13 states. The issue of BLO's health and safety has also gotten the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) locking horns, with each of them claiming that the other one is threatening and intimidating BLOs for their agenda.
After the ECI announced a 'special revision' of electoral list to be carried out in Assam, BJP also set up a coordinating committee and plans to visit the state to review the process.
The national coordination committee consists of 7 members. Led by BJP national General Secretary Tarun Chugh; party leaders Dr K Laxman, K Annamalai, Om Prakash Dhankhar, Alka Gurjar, Dr Anirban Ganguly, and Jamyang Tsering Namgyal are also part of the team.
Additionally, 13 different state monitoring teams have also been made to coordinate the meetings with the BLOs in specific states. Covering nearly all the states where the Sir is ongoing, the BJP's state monitoring teams have been formed in Andaman and Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Assam. Each state team consists of 4-5 people, save for Lakshadweep, with party's state president KN Koya coordinating for the area there.
The work of the coordination team has already started, with one of the team members, Anirban Ganguly, going to Nadia district in West Bengal today to review the SIR work. For West Bengal, which is set to go to polls next year, the team will visit various areas till December 1. Meanwhile, review of the Andaman and Nicobar area from the party has already finished.
Speaking to ANI on the team, Ganguly alleged that TMC members are "subjecting BLOs to mental harassment and intimidation."
"They are threatening and pressuring BLOs appointed by the Election Commission. Trinamool Congress leaders are preventing authorized BLOs from working. They are attempting to surround these BLOs and take them with them," the BJP leader told ANI.
Accusing the TMC of trying to "protect its infiltrator vote bank, "
"Trinamool Congress is doing all this to protect its vote bank of infiltretors. Pressure is being exerted through BLOs. Trinamool Congress leaders are openly threatening even BJP BLOs. These BLOs are being pressured to prevent them from performing their duties properly," he said.
Meanwhile, according to Election Commission of India, over 99.43% of enumeration forms have been distributed till November 28, covering more than 50 crore electors.
5,32,828 Booth Level Officers (BLO) are doing the ground work to distribute and fill the enumeration forms of every elector across 13 states in the country, being helped by 11,40, 598 Booth Level Agents. The largest number of forms have been distributed in Uttar Pradesh, with 15,39,93,688 forms given to electors.
74.1% of enumeration forms have been digitised till now, with 100 per cent or 57,813 forms in Lakshadweep digitised. Uttar Pradesh currently has the lowest rate of forms digitised. Only 8,48,82,670, or 54.97% forms have been digitised in the state. (ANI)