MP Congress raises question on teachers appointed as BLOs for SIR exercise

Bhopal, Nov 7 (IANS) Days after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of the voter list started in Madhya Pradesh, the opposition Congress raised questions on enrolling a large number of teachers for the job of Block Level Officers (BLOs).

Congress said that teachers enrolled for the job of BLOs will be away from schools until the final process of the SIR exercise is concluded in February 2026, and by then, the board exams of students in 10th and 12th classes will start in the state.

The Election Commission has appointed a total of 65,014 BLOs for the SIR exercise in the state, of whom more than 15,000 are schoolteachers, Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh, Umang Singhar said on Friday.

The Congress leader further stated that there are around 6,000 government-run primary schools in the state where merely one or two teachers are appointed. Singhar also claimed that school principals have also been made BLOs.

"Five teachers were suspended in Neemuch district because they decided to run regular classes in their respective schools. The government should have thought about the students, especially those preparing for board exams three months away," Singhar said.

On Thursday, Madhya Pradesh Congress President Jitu Patwari said that the SIR process is an attempt to remove voters from the list, "but the Congress is keeping a close watch here in Madhya Pradesh and no single illegible voter would be removed."

Patwari will also give a detailed presentation before the press at party headquarters in Bhopal on November 8.

Notably, the Election Commission has kick-started the second phase of the SIR process in nine states, including Madhya Pradesh, and three Union Territories (UTs) from November 4.

The exercise will continue till December 4, 2025. For this purpose, one Block Level Officer (BLO) has been deployed at each of the 65,014 polling stations across the state, who will go door-to-door with enumeration forms.

Under this initiative, BLOs have been tasked to provide enumeration forms to electors at their doorstep.

The claims and objections will be accepted until January 8, and after all claims are resolved by January 31, the final voter list will be published on February 7.

--IANS

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