Nearly 250 government primary school teachers serving as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) staged a dramatic protest at a data uploading centre in Ahmedabad on Thursday, highlighting serious concerns about excessive workload, threats from officials, and technical challenges affecting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Protesting Teachers Voice Their Grievances
The protest unfolded at K K Shastri College in Khokhra, which serves as the data uploading centre for Amraiwadi Assembly constituency. The situation escalated into heated arguments between BLOs and election officials before the teachers decided to stage a dharna and refuse work until their issues were properly addressed.
The 246 Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation School Board teachers working as BLOs cited multiple challenges including undue pressure and threats from officials to achieve SIR targets within unrealistic deadlines. One protesting teacher revealed that when they informed officials about difficulties in finding voter names from the 2002 voter list for mapping, they were rudely told to search only within Amraiwadi constituency without any constructive assistance.
Multiple Challenges Faced by BLOs
Female teachers particularly highlighted the harassment they face due to their mobile numbers being made public. "We are getting abusive calls at night," one teacher shared, describing how the combination of official pressure and anonymous harassment has created an unbearable working environment.
Technical problems have compounded their difficulties. Server issues have repeatedly disrupted uploading work, leading to bizarre situations where teachers receive calls from seniors as late as midnight or 1 am asking them to perform data entry when the server becomes functional. This has severely impacted their personal lives, with many reporting no quality family time for the past three weeks.
The demanding schedule requires BLOs to reach the centre by 7 am, followed by field work until 1 pm, and then return to the field at 3 pm after lunch. "After that there is no time limit, we are asked to be available whenever required," explained one BLO who wished to remain anonymous.
Authorities Respond to Concerns
Manoj Patel, president of the Ahmedabad Municipal Teachers Association, articulated the collective demand clearly: "BLOs have clearly stated that they need technical staff and additional support staff for mapping." The association also demanded that BLOs should not be forced to work outside their designated wards.
Later in the evening, Patel confirmed that authorities had agreed to work on these issues and develop appropriate solutions. When contacted by media, Sagar Kapadia, deputy mamlatdar supervising Amraiwadi Assembly constituency work of the SIR, stated that "The BLO issues have been addressed. The server issue was there initially but it is working fine now."
The protest highlights systemic issues in the electoral revision process, with one BLO noting that "This is not 20 days' work, but it requires at least 60 days." The concerns appear widespread across Ahmedabad, not limited to Amraiwadi constituency alone.
According to official data, 50,963 Booth Level Officers are currently performing duties across Gujarat, managing a total of 5.08 crore registered voters in the state. The counting phase of the SIR is scheduled to begin on December 4, adding urgency to resolving these operational challenges.
