BLO Salary : Good news for BLOs! Honorarium increased from 6,000 to 12,000

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list is underway in many states across the country. During this period, the Election Commission has decided to increase the honorarium for Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Earlier, BLOs used to receive an honorarium of 6,000 rupees, which will now be increased to 12,000 rupees. In addition, the honorarium for BLO Supervisors has also been increased. Previously, BLO Supervisors received 12,000 rupees, which will now be raised to 18,000 rupees. The Election Commission has issued a press release in this regard. After the SIR process began in various states, incidents of BLO deaths had come to light. In some places, relatives alleged that BLOs had committed suicide due to work-related stress.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, along with other leaders, had strongly raised the issue of the BLO's death and urged the Election Commission to take note and act on it. Criticism was directed at the Election Commission over the increased workload pressure on BLOs. Following this, the Election Commission has decided to increase the honorarium for BLOs and BLO supervisors.

BLOs work on preparing voter identification cards for voters. As the Election Commission's representative at the lowest level, BLOs carry out this work. A BLO is responsible for one booth. At that booth, the BLO is responsible for verifying how many voters will vote and for the voter cards. Generally, primary school teachers or Anganwadi workers serve as BLOs. The stress on BLOs has increased in the past few days. This BLO work is additional. They continue doing their primary job alongside BLO duties. This increases the work-related stress on BLOs. While doing SIR work, employees have to verify people's applications.

SIR in various states

Meanwhile, SIR is underway in Andaman and Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Earlier, the SIR process had taken place in Bihar.