Telangana: BLOs face challenges as voters make errors in enumeration forms

Booth-Level Officers involved in Telangana's Special Intensive Revision exercise have reported several issues, including incorrect voter details, invalid corrections, improper photographs, language barriers and delays during house visits, making the electoral roll revision process more time-consuming and challenging.

Hyderabad: Booth Level Officers (BLOs) working on the ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) of the electoral process have reported unexpected challenges, stating that voters have filled out enumeration forms incorrectly, which will affect the ongoing work.

A few BLOs told Telangana Today, “Voters are filling the enumeration form without accurate information about Date of Birth, Address and name of the assembly constituency. In several cases, voters have entered incorrect details in key fields. For instance, one voter mentioned his bank account in the column of A C, which is meant for the assembly constituency.”

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In other cases, the BLOs observed that the voters entered incorrect details and made numerous corrections, which created confusion. BLOs reported that multiple corrections were being made, leading to confusion during the process.

BLOs have suggested that voters take photocopies of the original enumeration forms and fill in the correct details on the copies. After confirming that all details are correct, voters have been advised to write on the original enumeration form to avoid mistakes.

Regarding affixing the photos of the voters on enumeration forms, the BLOs stated that voters used to affix the same photo shown on the enumeration form. Specific instructions were given to the BLOs during the training that the latest passport-size photo should be pasted.

Most voters are pasting photos that they have already used for other purposes. A few photos were seen with half of the face covered, either with rubber stamps or with unclear faces.

While filling the enumeration forms, voters were found using multiple ballpens and, in some instances, green and red colour ball pens as well. Although no specific instructions were given to voters, the forms are to be filled preferably using only blue or black colour ball pens, avoiding red and green colour ball pens.

A few BLOs reported frustration in some instances where warning boards stating ‘Beware of Dogs’ were hung at main gates. BLOs said they did not have any other option except to wait till the watchman or security guard opened the gate. They said this could take two minutes or 10 to 15 minutes, leading to a waste of time.

As the enumeration form is printed in English, some voters are unable to understand it and are filling in the information in Telugu and Urdu, which is unacceptable. Voters are instead having to seek the help of BLOs to fill in the information in English, according to an BLO.

Some voters have been applying whiteners to rectify incorrect information in the enumeration form, a practice described as invalid. BLOs have indicated that changes made in this manner are not acceptable for the preparation of the electoral rolls.