80k BLOs, 659 helpdesks & loads of anxiety: Bengal set for month-long SIR rollout today
Times of India | 4 November 2025
Kolkata: With 80,681 BLOs and an additional 14,000 BLOs in reserve, along with 659 helpdesks, the EC will roll out its all-critical month-long doorstep verification of voters on Tuesday.
The EC is also dispatching a central team from Delhi, which will reach Kolkata on Wednesday and remain in Bengal till Nov 8. The team's travel itinerary includes Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, and Jalpaiguri, all of which share borders with Bangladesh.
Bengal's chief electoral officer, Manoj Agarwal, held a meeting with the DEOs on Monday to address any last-minute glitches. The DMs were asked to use public announcements and banners to clear up any confusion among voters.
Agarwal also instructed the DMs to ensure the security of BLOs.
Arindam Niyogi, Bengal's additional CEO, said, "There are 7.6 crore voters in Bengal's 294 assemblies. The mapping with SIR 2002 was completed for 2.4 crore voters. These 32% of the voters need not provide any further documents." The EC has asked the DMs to ensure there are no complaints of ‘missing BLOs'.
Across Kolkata, BLOs struggled to collect forms for enumeration process.
At Survey Building in Alipore, BLOs arrived early at 10:30 am. "We are supposed to collect forms from the respective centres. However, the forms were not ready. There are BLOs who waited till late in the evening," said a BLO who left the Survey Building after 6 pm.
"We have not been given any list by which we have to go. We will follow the last voter list provided to us and approach the areas where we have the most voters," said a BLO in south Kolkata. BLOs have been asked to follow normal schedule. They will start distribution around 10:30 am and continue till 4 pm.