Meet the faces behind Delhi’s mammoth voter verification drive

As the afternoon sun beats down on the narrow lanes of East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar Phase 2, Yagyadev Sharma pulls up a bag stuffed with Special Intensive Revision (SIR) forms onto his shoulder and begins another round of house-to-house visits. The Class 11-12 Hindi teacher, who has temporarily traded his classroom for Delhi’s crowded neighbourhoods, spends his days supervising 10 Booth Level Officers (BLOs), navigating labyrinthine lanes, tracking down voters and resolving problems that stretch far beyond paperwork.

With Delhi’s SIR exercise entering its first week, BLOs deployed across the Capital say they are working from early morning until late at night, grappling with confusing addresses, uncooperative residents, absence of basic facilities and mounting work pressure while putting their regular Government duties on hold.

The exercise, which began on June 30, has mobilised school teachers, technicians, anganwadi workers, ASHA workers and other Government employees as BLOs across Delhi’s 13 districts. Their responsibilities include distributing SIR forms, explaining the process to voters, collecting completed forms and uploading the data.

For Sharma, locating voters, particularly in slum clusters, is one of the biggest challenges. “In our list, if ‘A’ is listed as the address, strangely, several houses share the same address. Sometimes, the entire slum cluster has the same address,” he said, adding that BLOs often walk long distances between scattered addresses despite them appearing adjacent on paper.

Rama (name changed), a BLO posted in Srinivaspuri, echoed the concern, saying locating the correct voter in densely populated settlements is often a painstaking exercise. “Several homes have the same address. Hence, finding the right listed person gets difficult. I wished there was some cooperation from the people’s side as well, so our work would be easy,” she said, adding that many residents remain unaware of the revision exercise and are initially reluctant to engage with BLOs.

Beyond door-to-door verification, Rama said the paperwork itself has become another challenge. “We have to arrange and upload these forms as well. There are no designated rooms or spaces for BLOs, where they can sit and complete this work. We have to make makeshift arrangements, sometimes sitting at shops or near vegetable vendors’ stalls. I have around 1,200 voters in my list and arranging so many forms without making errors requires complete concentration,” she said.

For Aarti* (name changed), a BLO posted in East Vinod Nagar and a school teacher, a significant portion of the day is spent assisting elderly voters.

“To avoid errors, I sometimes fill the forms myself for elderly citizens,” she said, explaining that many senior citizens struggle to understand the documentation requirements. She added that the fear of fraud also makes some elderly residents living alone hesitant to open their doors to strangers. “The form is complicated for many people and half our time goes into explaining where they can find the required details,” she said.

Aarti also highlighted the lack of basic amenities during field duty. “We are unable to find proper washrooms during our duty. It’s a major concern as we don’t know where to go and relieve ourselves,” she said.

The extended deployment has also affected the officials’ primary jobs. “I have not been able to even think about my school. SIR work begins at 8 am and goes on till night. Hence, I am not being able to take online classes also,” Sharma said.

Rama, who works as an anganwadi worker, said colleagues at her centre are handling her routine responsibilities while she remains engaged in election work. “The helper is taking care of my duties at my centre. Whenever there is any work that specifically requires me, I help. Otherwise, SIR work goes on till 9 or 10 pm. How can I do my regular duties?” she asked.

Aarti said that although substitute teachers have been arranged, students continue to contact her for academic help. “My students have been calling me for help with their tests. I send them work on WhatsApp. The BLO duty is gruelling. There is no time for anything but this,” she said.

The workload has previously drawn attention in other states, where some BLOs deployed during similar voter revision exercises complained of excessive work pressure and some also died by suicide.

Sharma, who commutes daily from Aligarh to Delhi, said the long working hours have taken a physical toll. “It’s a part of our jobs but still it is quite taxing. Let’s see if the exercise is completed by July 29. It’s a difficult month,” he said.