Kerala BLO equates SIR work with ‘slave labour’, Chief Electoral Officer gives him option to quit
Amid the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Kerala, an audio message from a booth-level officer (BLO), who equated the work they are made to do with “slave labour”, has gone viral and prompted authorities to reach out to him.
Taking note of the audio, Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, Dr Ratan Kelkar, and Kottayam District Collector Chetan Kumar Meena jointly held a meeting via video conferencing with the BLO, identified as Antony Varghese, who was assigned the 110th booth under the Poonjar Assembly constituency.
In the audio clip that was widely shared on social media on Monday, Antony claimed that the SIR-related work had left him stressed out. Pointing out that many people were returning the enumeration forms without filling them properly, he said, “I have to fill in their basic data… There is no internet facility… The Election Commission and its officials are exploiting us both physically and mentally. This slave labour should be stopped.”
A press release from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer said that during the online meeting, Antony was offered the option to stop working as a BLO, but that he expressed his willingness to continue with the work. The district administration has deployed additional personnel to help Antony, officials said.
Last week, a BLO in Kannur had died by suicide, which his family attributed to the stress related to his SIR work.
Meanwhile, as the distribution of enumeration forms in Kerala nears completion, the number of voters who could not be traced is 2.13 lakh. Officials believe that these were likely people who have died or moved.
The total number of enumeration forms to be distributed in Kerala is 2.78 crore. Around 27.42% of the forms have been digitised, officials said.
