In its letter to the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and shot off through its general secretary Geeta Bhatt, ABRSM has said that the SIR process “is a crucial exercise in the country’s democratic process” and that the accuracy of the voter lists “is the cornerstone of fair elections, and the teaching community has always faithfully fulfilled this national responsibility.”

However, the BLOs have been facing various issues, ABRSM says. It says that the process has led to increase in “depression, stress, and suicide among BLOs” who face “excessive workload, 16-18 hours of daily field and portal work, and lack of technical facilities.”

It notes that “abusive behavior by officials has led to severe mental stress among BLO teachers in several states. Sadly, some cases have even resulted in tragic suicides, which not only disturbs the teaching community but also represents a clear violation of human rights,” adding that “this administrative practice cannot be considered in accordance with the ethical standards of democratic institutions.”

Second, it says that BLOs have to often rely on their personal resources in case of technical glitches like “frequent crash of the BLO app and portal, lack of network connectivity, OTP failures, data upload failures, and a lack of technical training”.

Third, it has decried the intimidation of BLOs. “Under pressure to meet unrealistic targets in a short time, several BLOs are faced with (the prospect of) withholding of their salary, show-cause notices, chargesheets, suspensions, threats of FIRs, and abusive behavior. This intimidating atmosphere created during work is contrary to both the dignity of elections and the respect of the teaching community.”

Fourth, it said that the BLOs often have to face public ire too as sometimes, the people don’t have their 20-year-old documents. Hence, “they don’t cooperate with the BLOs and sometimes resort to rudeness. The Election Commission hasn’t adequately educated the public about this new, in-depth survey,” and sometimes, the “people feel it’s unnecessary”.

The letter demands that the ECI extend the SIR deadline “to ensure stress-free, accurate and quality work.” It has also demanded Rs 1 crore compensation and a government job for the kin of BLOs “who have died prematurely or by suicide due to pressure from the SIR.”

ABRSM also says that all such cases should be “investigated at a high level, and the guilty officials should be prosecuted.”

It has also demanded that technical assistants, computer operators, or associates, as well as tablets/laptops, travel allowances, etc. should also be provided to BLOs, while “officials should be given clear instructions to refrain from any kind of threats, harassment, abusive language or punitive action.”

ABRSM says that BLOs should be provided “respectable additional honorarium as per the workload and challenges” and that “additional BLOs should be deployed in inaccessible hilly, desert and remote areas.”

Several BLO deaths have been reported from the states undergoing SIR. As per the Press Information Bureau (PIB), over 5.3 lakh BLOs, 7.64 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs), 10,448 EROs/AEROs and 321 DEOs have been pressed into action spanning 321 districts and 1,843 Assembly Constituencies (ACs).