Female poll officials to check women in purdah at polling stations: EC

Kolkata: Female poll officials will have to compulsorily check and identify women in purdah at polling stations and mark them on the electoral roll before allowing them inside booths to cast their votes: This is one of the instructions issued by the chief electoral officer (CEO) in Bengal, Manoj Agarwal, to district election officers (DEOs) on the role and responsibilities of booth-level officers (BLOs) during the assembly election.

The woman poll officials, along with BLOs, will be posted at polling stations on election days. The BLOs will inform the presiding officers of booths about any discrepancy, if found, while checking the purdahnashin woman electors.


"Where there is a large number of women electors, especially purdahnashin ones, women polling officers should be appointed to carry out the duty of identifying the electors. BLOs will sit at the voter assistance booths or at the entrance of polling stations and identify the electors. Male BLOs may be accompanied by a female staff and vice versa to identify electors, including purdahnashin women and mark them in the electoral roll," the guideline read.

This is the first time that the EC has instructed that women, visiting polling stations with their faces covered, will have to be checked and identified. Raising their own safety concerns, a presiding officer said, "I have been doing polling duty for a long time. This is the first time that such a written instruction has come from the commission. Questioning women in purdah at poll stations is a sensitive issue, but this time, it has been made compulsory for all BLOs and their accompanying woman officials to identify such voters. There should be proper security arrangements at the polling stations for the safety of polling officials."

BLOs will be assigned to polling stations in their own neighbourhoods, where most people in the area are familiar with them. "Why is the EC putting BLOs at the receiving end of all challenges? The election will be over but we will have to stay in our neighbourhoods. I am scared about any possible trouble that I may face while carrying out the EC's instruction. After the elections, the EC won't be there to look into the matter," said a BLO.

Swapan Mondal, general secretary of a BLO outfit, Votekarmi O BLO Aikya Mancha, said, "We are not against checking electors at polling stations but involving BLOs in it puts more pressure on them as we all live in the same area and any problem may cause enmity within the neighbourhood. It would have been wiser had the EC entrusted this duty to central forces."

Other assignments that the BLOs are tasked with include distribution of voter information slips to electors on door-to-door visits, making necessary arrangements at polling stations and helping electors at voter assistance booths on election days.
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