SIR: Strapped for time, BLOs skip door-to-door visits; distribute enumeration forms at community halls
Delay in delivery of enumeration forms, incessant calls from the electors and race against the deadline are increasing pressure on the booth level officers (BLOs)
Delay in delivery of enumeration forms, incessant calls from the electors and race against the deadline are increasing pressure on the booth level officers (BLOs), who are the foot soldiers of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, in the city. Electors, on the other hand, are growing restless with no BLO turning up at the doorstep one week past the official launch of the SIR process. Several BLOs from the city and Rangareddy district say they did not get the forms by June 25, 2026, which was the official launch date for house-to-house visits by BLOs for the SIR-2026. “We got the forms only three days ago. But pressure is building up on us since day one. I got some 50 calls from electors before I even got the forms,” said B.
Raghavender (name changed), a BLO from LB Nagar constituency. Even in the centrally located Khairatabad constituency, BLOs received the forms only four days ago. As a result of this delay, majority BLOs are not going door-to-door, as they are trained for, but sitting at one central location polling station wise, and issuing enumeration forms after noting down the details from the Electoral Photo Identity Cards. “Nobody came to my home. I got my form from the local mosque where my brother went and collected it on my behalf,” shared Shiak Moosa from RTC Colony, Chintalkunta. “Two BLOs came to our community, but many of our names were not there on their rolls. They asked us to visit the polling station, a private school, where one more BLO was sitting on the bike surrounded by several electors.
My name was not there either, and I was directed to go to a community hall nearby,” another resident from the same locality shared, not willing to be named. Syed Bilal, an activist from Moosanagar area of Chaderghat, too complained that rather than being delivered at home, the forms are being distributed at community halls or playgrounds. Each BLO is tasked with covering 1200-1300 electors, paying at least three doorstep visits before July 24, 2026. Given the month’s time, this averages to at least 40-45 doorstep visits per-day-per BLO. Even if he/she spends 10 minutes at each house, which is the minimum time required to explain the process, the BLO would require close to seven hours per day merely for the visits, not even accounting for the travel time.
“This way, we can visit only those electors whose forms remain at the end. This will save us time,” says Nagarani (name changed), another BLO. As on Wednesday, the distribution of forms in the city stood at less than 40% on an average. Areas falling in Rangareddy district recorded the lowest at 32%, with Hyderabad recording 42% completion. Medchal-Malkajgiri recorded 37%. This is very low, when compared to the 80-90% achieved in rural constituencies. A statement from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer cited 75.73% completion rate in the State with a total 2.56 crore enumeration forms distributed so far.
The BriefWire