Kolkata: The office of the Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Thursday announced that all Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have reported for duty, ensuring full coverage across 80,807 polling booths ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Earlier, the CEO’s office, acting on the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) directive, had issued a final notice to around 143 BLOs who had failed to join work. State CEO Manoj Agarwal had also written to the Education Department, urging immediate action to ensure compliance. During a video conference on Wednesday, the ECI instructed Agarwal to warn reluctant officers of suspension if they did not report for duty.
“SIR exercise is being conducted more thoroughly than in 2002. I urge all BLOs to perform their duties with sincerity and dedication,” Agarwal said.
Door-to-door voter verification will be conducted from November 4 to December 4. The CEO assured that no genuine voter’s name will be deleted from the rolls.
Special camps have also been arranged in North Bengal districts affected by natural calamities to help residents obtain duplicate
voter documents.
Meanwhile, the CEO’s website briefly crashed on Thursday afternoon after receiving over one crore visits from people checking their names in the 2002 voter list.
Officials said the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which maintains the portal, had been asked to restore normal service quickly.