A week on, ECI's Bengal SIR achieves 75 pc voter form delivery; cracks down on errant BLOs

Kolkata, Nov 11 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) has completed the distribution of enumeration forms to 75 per cent of West Bengal’s voters one week into the three-stage Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, even as the poll panel has cracked down on Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for procedural violations.

According to figures from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in West Bengal, enumeration forms have been distributed to 5.85 crore voters across the state till 6 p.m. on Monday.

The total number of electors in the state, as per the electoral roll dated October 27, 2025, stands at 7,66,37,529. Officials in the CEO’s office said they are confident of completing the distribution process within the next few days.

However, questions persist about the pace of enumeration form distribution, particularly regarding how many forms have actually reached voters’ homes and how many were handed out by booth-level officers (BLOs) from specific locations.

The ECI has begun taking action against BLOs for procedural violations, issuing show-cause notices to eight officers who allegedly resorted to distributing enumeration forms from a single location instead of conducting door-to-door delivery as required.

As of Monday afternoon, the office of the CEO has received 1,45,744 applications from various political parties for the appointment of booth-level agents (BLAs). Of these, 1,44,657 are for BLA-2 positions and 1,087 for BLA-1 positions.

A BLA-1 represents a political party at the Assembly constituency level, while a BLA-2 represents the party at an individual polling booth.

The Trinamool Congress leads all parties with 52,068 BLA applications, including 51,888 for BLA-2s and 180 for BLA-1s.

The Bharatiya Janata Party follows with 45,960 applications, while the Communist Party of India-Marxist has submitted 35,576 and the Congress 10,263.

The first phase of the three-stage SIR in West Bengal began on November 4 and is expected to conclude by March next year.

The previous SIR in the state was carried out in 2002. Voters whose names or whose parents’ names were missing from the 2002 electoral roll will be required to furnish one of the eleven documents specified by the Election Commission to retain their names in the updated voters list.

--IANS

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