MP SIR: Jitu Patwari warns BLOs from removing Congress supporters’ names 

Barwani, Jan 21 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari on Wednesday claimed that at least 5 per cent government-appointed Booth Level Officers (BLOs) engaged in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state are working on the direction of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Patwari alleged that the names of several tribals, who are Congress supporters and migrated from one place to another for their livelihood, are being removed from the voter list. 

He warned that BLOs who would remove Congress supporters’ names from the voter list on behalf of the BJP will face legal action.

“I am warning the government-appointed BLOs that if the names of tribals and Congress supporters are deliberately removed from the voters’ list, the Congress party will register an FIR against them,” Patwari said, talking to the media in Barwani district on Wednesday.

Patwari, who, along with the State’s LoP Umang Singhar, participated in the party programme in the Sendhwa assembly constituency in Barwani, a tribal dominated district, also stated that, “95 BLOs engaged in the SIR exercise are working honestly, but 5 per cent are working as BJP’s agents.”

Patwari also claimed that the Congress party has noticed some irregularities in the electoral rolls being prepared by the Election Commission. 

“In the past two-three days, we have noticed the BJP’s conspiracy, and they are pressuring BLOs to cut the names of Congress supporters. We will expose that conspiracy,” he added.

Notably, more than 65,000 BLOs, who are the state government employees, including teachers, Anganwadi workers, municipal officials and from several other departments, have been engaged in the SIR exercise in Madhya Pradesh.

In another development on Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh Leader of Opposition (LoP) Umang Singhar wrote a letter to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), seeking immediate attention over “discrepancies” and “lack of transparency” in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

In his letter, Singhar expressed serious concern over widespread system-generated discrepancies and lack of clarity in the verification process that have emerged after the release of the draft electoral roll under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state.

The Congress leader stated that after the publication of the draft electoral roll under the SIR, a large number of voters’ names have been included in the so-called discrepancy lists in almost all districts of the state. These discrepancies include entries such as mention of more than six children, inconsistency in the father’s name, a difference of less than 15 years or more than 50 years between the age of the parents and the voter.

“All these discrepancies are entirely data-based and system-generated indicators, intended only to flag cases for verification, and not to draw any conclusions about the voter’s eligibility. However, the scale of these discrepancies is so vast that millions of voters are affected, creating a situation of fear and confusion among voters,” Singhar wrote in his letter.

Notably, after conducting the SIR exercise, the Election Commission released the draft electoral roll for Madhya Pradesh on December 23, which indicated that over 42.7 lakh voters (7.4 per cent) were likely to be deleted.

--IANS

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