These days, whether it's winding village paths or narrow city alleys, you'll bump into a BLO at every turn. Armed with a 10-kilo bundle of papers, urgency on their face, and on their lips - 'Brother, this is a SIR form...please fill it out.'
BLOs are knocking on doors, pressing doorbells, asking family members for their names. They scroll through mobile apps so often that even the phone seems to ask, 'Why are you bothering me every moment?'
Searching for names in the app, BLOs end up drenched in sweat. When a name finally matches, it's like finding a long-lost sibling at a bustling fair.
They hand over form after form, open their registers, jot down names, get signatures, and note down mobile numbers. As they leave, they repeat three times - 'Keep the form ready in three days. Two photos of each person are needed. Remember, I will come to collect the forms. If not filled, the name will be struck off the voter list, and even I won't be able to help.'
The reality is that those 'above' have tied a time bomb. The final date is December 11, with a burden so immense it might as well be the universe itself, and time so scarce that one can barely sip tea in peace.
BLOs are troubled. The public is hassled. Phone rings are incessant. Everyone's calling. Some don't know how to fill the form; others can't access the 2003 voter list for their village.
Look at this - the village is Simardha…but you won't find its name in the online voter list. That's because Simardha's list is attached to Sarseda. Despite both villages being 40 km apart, they share the same assembly constituency.
Source: aajtak
Similarly, the voter list for Birona village is missing from the election commission's website. You'll find it only when you open the list for Bacheh village. These two are 25 km apart but share the same constituency. Both examples hail from the Garotha assembly seat in Jhansi. Such confusion reigns elsewhere too.
Source: aajtak
In Lucknow's Sarojini Nagar assembly, the Bangla Bazar Ashiana located Maharaja Bijli Pasi College polling booth can't be found online. Locals are calling BLOs for their polling numbers, only to be told to search for themselves among endless voter lists. What a scene!
Source: aajtak
It's such a perplexing connection that even Google Maps would blush. No matter how clever you are, you can't connect Simardha with Sarseda or Birona with Bacheh. But the election commission has, so everyone must comply. Everything is in their hands, including the SIR procedure - unprepared, untrained, and unaware.
The commission issued orders right before the Bihar elections. When an uproar ensued, they declared this would happen across the country, starting where polls were imminent. Thus began the grand race.
What Can the Public Do?
Faced with such a spectacle, people can only watch, grumble, and eventually resign themselves to the fact that everything is in the hands of the election commission.
BLOs Can't Stop...
Whether the voter list is lost, the app crashes - regardless of the obstacle, BLOs don't stop. They're distributing forms in the morning, attending meetings in the afternoon, and listening to supervisors in the evening. BLOs are tireless for now.
On the other hand, the public is engaged in its own struggle. Even now, they can't find the 2003 voter list. Call the helpdesk, and you hear - 'Welcome to the Delhi Election Commission office...' and two seconds later - 'Your voice is not clear...please move to a better network area...'
After a few tries, people hold their heads in frustration, and then set aside the SIR to tend to household tasks.
But BLOs...continue wandering the alleys. Their journey persists. Until December 11, they will roam, rise, and wrangle in these narrow passages, shouldering the true burden of this bureaucratic behemoth.
In this frosty weather, BLOs are the ones truly tested. Wrapped in the dust of lanes, breathing in the cold, democracy runs briskly on their weary shoulders.
