Between 10 a.m. and noon on Monday, Nitika*’s phone kept buzzing with calls from unknown numbers, none of which she could take. She was invigilating an examination at the school where she teaches in Mustafabad. By the next day, complaints had reached the local election office that their Booth Level Officer (BLO), Ms. Nitika, was not responding to voters seeking help with their ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) proceedings.
Assigned as a BLO in July last year, Ms. Nitika said she had barely taken a day off since December, juggling teaching with SIR-related work, which has continued through successive stages of the exercise.
“The pressure is immense. My day starts at 5 a.m. It all started with the pre-SIR work. Now we have to conduct hearings as well. Nobody asks us before adding extra work,” said the 30-year-old.
Delhi has 14,947 polling booths and as many BLOs. The BLOs officially started the distribution and disposal of notices on August 31, 2026. Their responsibilities during the SIR have extended from the six-month pre-SIR mapping and enumeration phase to serving notices to 33.1 lakh electors, collecting and uploading documents, and handling claims and objections, voter enrolment camps and verification.
While the original schedule of three months has stretched over five months, BLOs have been carrying out SIR-related duties since January, months before the SIR began. The Election Commission (EC) directed on Saturday that voters who receive notices will not need to appear for physical hearings and that BLOs will collect documents from their homes.
The workload has taken a toll on the BLOs, many of whom are teachers. Rishabh*, a BLO from Timarpur, has delivered about 40% of the 275 notices assigned to him while also teaching Class XI students and handling examinations. He said principals had also been assigned as additional assistant electoral registration officers. “Who will be responsible for students who have board exams?”
Lack of mechanism for complaints
Mr. Rishabh said the BLOs did not have proper training for collecting documents as people did not listen to them. “When we are called for training, there are barely any doubts heard. We are told to sign and go on field.”
The BLOs face hostility from voters. “Voters abuse us, asking how they can get such notices, even though it is we who will help them find the documents. There is no mechanism to report this,” Mr. Rishabh said.
In north-east Delhi, Priyanshu*, whose school shift ends at 6.30 p.m., said he had spent the past 10 days delivering notices until 11 p.m. Of the 294 notices assigned to him, all had the same hearing date — September 29.
“I am working hard to ensure that no vote that exists gets deleted. Our problem is not work. Our problem is we cannot take even one day off. Why? In fact, there are special camps on Sunday,” he said.
The lack of support is another concern. Mr. Priyanshu said that when the BLO application stopped working late at night, there was no one available to resolve the problem. Meanwhile, Ms. Nitika’s request for staff to accompany her due to safety concerns was never addressed.
Mr. Priyanshu also said the conditions at camps were inadequate. At one camp last week, he said there were no tables, chairs, drinking water or access to a toilet, leaving BLOs to sit on the ground while processing cases.
After the EC’s new direction, Mr. Priyanshu said he had submitted an application to be relieved from duty. “I had to visit multiple times to collect forms during the enumeration phase. I cannot repeat the process for documents. Why can’t (Assistant Electoral Registration Officers) AEROs do hearings?”
The area assigned to him has a dense population, with houses sharing similar addresses and often without house numbers.
The teachers also said the additional work was affecting students. “I teach Class 10 students and their whole year will be impacted due to me. And due to the system,” Ms. Nitika said.
‘33 rupees per day’
BLOs said they had not received payments for their work for a year. Mr. Priyanshu said that when they sought overtime payments, they were told that they were already being paid Rs. 33 a day.
“I have not received a single rupee in one year in my role as a BLO. We are supposed to get Rs. 12,000 as yearly honorarium and SIR allowance of Rs. 6,000. Nothing has come yet,” he said.
Ms. Nitika and Mr. Priyanshu received only half of the payment for last year in June.
The claims and objections period ends on September 30. The disposal of notices, claims and objections will continue until October 29, with the final electoral roll scheduled to be published on November 4.
(*Names changed on request)
Published – September 29, 2026 12:45 am IST
