E-Paper
UP DEOs’ carrot-and-stick approach to expedite SIR
To boost the morale of BLOs visiting households to distribute and help voters fill in the enumeration forms, district magistrates (DMs) across the state have taken to social media to highlight the achievements of officers who have completed 100% digitisation. The DMs have announced rewards for these achievers and shared photos with them on social platforms.
District election officers (DEOs) in Uttar Pradesh have adopted carrot-and-stick approach towards booth-level officers (BLOs) to achieve the target set by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for distribution, collection and digitisation of the enumeration forms under the Special Intensified Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Only nine days remain for the completion of the exercise, which concludes on December 4.
To boost the morale of BLOs visiting households to distribute and help voters fill in the enumeration forms, district magistrates (DMs) across the state have taken to social media to highlight the achievements of officers who have completed 100% digitisation. The DMs have announced rewards for these achievers and shared photos with them on social platforms.
On Tuesday, the district magistrates of Lalitpur, Jalaun, Agra, Firozabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Sultanpur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sonbhadra, Shravasti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Varanasi, Mathura, Barabanki, Jaunpur, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar and Saharanpur posted photos of BLOs who achieved full digitisation. Certificates were handed to them at programmes organised by the respective DMs.
UP chief electoral officer (CEO), Navdeep Rinwa said other BLOs should follow the strategy adopted by the achievers to complete the SIR drive in their areas on schedule.
At the same time, district magistrates have also taken action against negligent BLOs. In Amethi, three BLOs were suspended on Monday; in Rampur, five were suspended; in Bahraich, two were suspended; in Aligarh, seven were suspended and 21 issued notices. In Kasganj, an FIR was lodged against two BLOs for negligence.
Earlier, action was taken against 68 BLOs in Noida, where the DM ordered their suspension. In Prayagraj, notices were issued to six officials for negligence in voter list revision, allowances of seven BLOs were suspended, and an FIR was filed against one BLO.
In Bulandshahr and Bareilly, eight BLOs were booked for negligence in distributing, collecting and digitising voter enumeration forms. Two BLOs in Bahraich were also suspended for lapses in SIR work.
34.03% enumeration forms digitised in UP:
UP CEO Navdeep Rinwa on Tuesday said the distribution, collection and digitisation of enumeration forms for over 15.44 crore voters was being carried out at more than 1.62 lakh polling booths in the state. As of Tuesday, over 5.25 crore (34.03%) forms had been digitised by BLOs, he added
A total of 1,62,486 BLOs are engaged in the distribution, collection and digitisation process. Voters must submit their enumeration forms to BLOs by December 4. Voters are participating enthusiastically in the SIR process and cooperating with BLOs, Rinwa said.
He added that due to enthusiasm among voters, cooperation from BLAs, and the dedication of BLOs, 100% distribution, collection and digitisation had already been completed at some booths.
Rinwa directed all DEOs to boost the morale of BLOs and other personnel to speed up the SIR drive. “The voters should be made aware and supported in filling the enumeration forms,” he added.
