Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar with Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa and others during an interaction programme with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, in Lucknow on Tuesday (August 25, 2026)
| Photo Credit: X/@ECISVEEP via ANI
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Tuesday (August 25, 2026) described booth-level officers (BLO) as the first interface between citizens and the Election Commission (EC), and said they were the repositories of trust in the electoral process.He was speaking during an interaction in Lucknow with BLOs from across Uttar Pradesh. Over 500 BLOs and 30 BLO supervisors took part in the interaction. According to a statement by the Commission, the BLOs also had a question-and-answer session with Mr. Kumar, during which they could clarify their doubts directly with the CEC.Addressing the BLOs, Mr. Kumar termed them the foundational pillars of the world’s largest democracy. He said the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections in India were executed strictly as per the Constitution, the law and the instructions issued by the Election Commission.According to the Election Commission’s statement, he also said Uttar Pradesh’s BLOs had played, and continued to play, an instrumental role in the preparation of electoral rolls.After the completion of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State in April 2026, over 13.39 crore electors were included in the final voters’ list published in Uttar Pradesh. The exercise was carried out by 1.77 lakh BLOs, with the concurrent audit by over 5.82 lakh booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by the recognised political parties. Published - August 25, 2026 07:44 pm IST
