Irregular house numbering hampers BLOs in Hyderabad, say officials

Despite claims by the Telangana CEO that over 96 per cent of voters have received enumeration forms, Booth Level Officers in Hyderabad and other districts are struggling to trace voters due to irregular house numbering and missing contact details.

Hyderabad: Even as the Chief Election Officer (CEO) Telangana claims that 96.53 percent of the total voters have been distributed enumeration forms across the State, the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in Hyderabad and elsewhere in the State are racing against the time to locate thousands of voters, with less than three weeks left for distribution completion and collection.

Most of the BLOs are grappling with tracing addresses during the enumeration forms distribution drive either due to address change or irregular numbering. They are also unable to contact voters due to missing mobile numbers in the records.

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A BLO in Maheshwaram constituency pointed out that inconsistent house numbering has become a major hurdle in the field, forcing them to spend extra time in locating houses.

Citing an example, he said, “In 2002, a newly constructed house was assigned door no. 1, while another house built much farther away was allotted door no. 2. As new houses came up between these two, they were numbered 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and so on, creating confusion in identifying the correct addresses. When I tried to contact them, the voters were hell bent on delivering the forms at their doorstep,” the BLO said.

Another major issue the BLOs have been encountering is that the same family has votes at different polling booths despite residing in one household. One BLO cited the example of a family with four registered voters, where three are assigned to a polling booth in Badangpet and one in Nadergul. 

“There are instances of people getting into arguments due to this issue,” a BLO said.

Some BLOs alleged that their supervisors are focusing on meeting distribution targets rather than on ensuring forms are filled accurately. According to the BLOs, the pressure to complete targets leaves little time to verify whether or not voters have filled in their forms correctly.

“If voters provide incorrect or incomplete information, BLOs will be held accountable for any anomalies. We have not received proper training on the handling of the SIR process,” she added.