Kerala chief electoral officer warns of action against those obstructing BLOs from SIR work

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Ratan U Kelkar on Wednesday warned that strict criminal action would be taken against anyone obstructing the work of BLOs engaged in the SIR of the electoral roll.

Addressing a press conference here, Kelkar stated that he had received reports from across the state of Booth Level Officers being prevented from performing their duties, misinformation being spread about them, and instances of cyberattacks targeting them.

He said BLOs implementing the Special Intensive Revision on the mandate of the Election Commission of India (ECI) are deemed public servants, and any obstruction of their duties, cyberattacks against them, or dissemination of false information would attract penal action under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

"Action will be taken under Section 121 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter a public servant from duty) of the BNS, or under relevant cyber laws or the Information Technology Act, as applicable," Kelkar said.

He added that the SIR was being carried out strictly in accordance with the ECI’s schedule and must be completed within the mandated timeframe.

Kelkar said all necessary support, including police protection and assistance from voluntary organisations, would be provided to BLOs, and instructions to this effect had been issued to district collectors.

He emphasised that BLOs would not be pressured but instead encouraged to carry out their responsibilities, and that the public would be urged to cooperate to ensure smooth completion of the SIR.

The CEO appealed to the public to support the exercise, saying the objective was to ensure a "pure electoral roll", which required the cooperation of all stakeholders, including citizens.

According to Kelkar, enumeration forms have been distributed to more than 97 per cent of voters listed in the 2025 roll, and around five lakh forms have already been digitised.

The first round—comprising distribution, collection and digitisation of the forms—will be conducted from November 4 to December 4.

Regarding the roughly 55,000 forms tagged as "uncollectible", Kelkar said these include around 29,000 deceased voters and about 20,000 people who have shifted residences.

The remainder comprises untraceable individuals and duplicate entries.

"Technically, these should be deleted. However, we have asked political parties to hold meetings of their booth-level agents with the BLOs to verify these numbers so that we arrive at a correct and mutually agreed figure," he added.