Kolkata, Nov 8 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) has warned that booth-level officers (BLOs) in West Bengal skipping door-to-door visits while distributing enumeration forms for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state will face strong disciplinary action.

The commission has directed the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, and the District Electoral Officers (DEOs) to initiate strong disciplinary action as per rule against BLOs who are ignoring directives on door-to-door visits, sources in the CEO’s office said.

At the same time, the sources added, the commission had also directed the DEOs to thoroughly investigate cases of BLOs distributing enumeration forms in particular places, skipping door-to-door visits.

Apart from that, the commission has asked the CEO and the DEOs that any instance of BLO giving the responsibility of enumeration forms to a third party, be it a relative, friend or acquaintance, should be deemed a severe breach of conduct.

The CEO’s office has received several complaints that local Trinamool Congress leaders are collecting enumeration forms from the BLOs and distributing them among the public.

Meanwhile, the CEO’s office has informed that a total of 3.04 crore enumeration forms have been distributed among voters of West Bengal in the first four days of the SIR.

The ECI began the SIR in the state on Tuesday, and 3.04 crore enumeration forms were distributed till 8 p.m. on Friday.

Sources in the CEO’s office said that the progress of SIR in the state, regarding the distribution of enumeration forms, is quite satisfactory compared to 11 other states where the poll exercise is underway.

The total number of electors in West Bengal as per the electoral roll as on October 27, is 7,66,37,529.

Voters whose names or their parents’ names were included in the electoral rolls in 2002, the last time the SIR was conducted in West Bengal, will have to include details in the enumeration forms and submit them.

These voters will not have to submit any other supporting documents to retain their names in the electoral roll. Earlier, the SIR in West Bengal was conducted in 2002.

Voters, whose names or their parents’ names did not figure in the 2002 list, will have to submit any one of the 11 documents specified by the Commission to retain their names in the voter list.

–IANS

src/svn