Booth-level officers in Allahabad district are refusing or avoiding their duties in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of voter lists, despite actions like salary cuts and even a police case. Many BLOs say they are facing anger from people who do not want to accept the SIR forms.
A BLO from Phaphamau constituency told The Telegraph, “People resent us for handing them the forms. They look at us with doubt and often refuse to accept them. Many of us are local people, which makes us vulnerable. This is why many have stopped doing SIR work.”
Phaphamau, a rural area that falls under the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat once represented by Jawaharlal Nehru, is seeing the most resistance. Residents and officials gave different explanations for why people are refusing the forms, but agreed that unlike voters in Bengal, people in Uttar Pradesh do not fear being labelled “Bangladeshis.” Many believe they can find a way to stay on the voter list even if they skip the exercise.
Officials say one reason may be that many voters are listed at multiple polling booths. Allahabad district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma said, “A large number of people have their names in two places. Some have their names in four places.” He did not comment on the refusal to accept forms.
But some voters blame the BLOs. Sanket Shukla, a 24-year-old student from Phaphamau, said, “A BLO refused to accept the filled forms from some people and insisted on Aadhaar numbers even though the form says it is optional. Officers also told us there are 2.5 lakh voters registered in multiple Assembly segments, which sounds absurd. They should show those names at the start instead of suddenly deleting them later.”
Government sources say only 1.5 lakh of the 46.92 lakh voters in Phaphamau have been covered so far. An officer said, “It’s impossible to complete the target by December 9.”
The state government has asked two assistant returning officers and four supervisors to explain why they are showing no interest in the work. Salaries of seven BLOs have been stopped, and an FIR has been filed against one of them.
Hiralal Saini, electoral registration officer for Phaphamau, said, “Action was taken against them for being absent from their assigned areas.” BLOs include Anganwadi workers, Shiksha Mitras, panchayat assistants and PWD employees.
Among them is Anganwadi worker Shakuntala Yadav from Holagarh, against whom an FIR was filed after she refused to distribute forms. Officials say she told her seniors she didn’t want to become “an enemy to every villager.”
Several others – including Rita Pandey, Sunita Maurya, Suman Tiwari and Sunita Bharatiya – have had their salaries stopped. Four BLOs from Allahabad South have also refused to work despite warnings. They reportedly said their PWD duties leave them no time for SIR work.
Phaphamau has been held by the BJP since 2017, while Phulpur has been with the BJP since 2014 except for a brief period in 2018–19 when the Samajwadi Party won a by-election. The BJP lost the Allahabad Lok Sabha seat to the Congress last year.
