The Supreme Court, taking note of a plea alleging extreme work pressure faced by booth-level officers (BLOs) engaged in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, ordered the States and Union Territories to consider deputing additional employees for reducing their workload.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing an application by actor Vijay’s party Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), seeking a direction to the poll panel not to take coercive actions under the Representation of the People Act against the BLOs for not performing the duty in a time-bound manner.
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Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the TVK, argued that Anganwadi workers and teachers are forced to do BLO work after finishing their usual jobs. They work and receive messages about targets late into the night. Due to this high-pressure work, Mr. Sankaranarayanan argued that they should not be subject to criminal action if they didn’t meet the targets.
He also brought up the various cases of deaths and suicides of BLOs across India, attributing it to the extreme pressure exerted by the Election Commission (EC) officials. “It is not individual circumstances leading to pressure, but the stress of the BLO work and threat of prosecution,” he clarified.
