BENGALURU: In a significant move to ensure smooth and timely completion of Special Intensive Revision (SIR 2026) of electoral rolls, Chief Electoral Officer Anbukkumar has called for temporary exemption of daily biometric and mobile app-based attendance recording for booth level officers (BLOs) and others involved in the exercise.
In a letter to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh, Anbukkumar stated that field-level work as part of SIR is of “utmost urgency.” Officers and staff from various departments have been deputed for door-to-door verification of voters, registration of new voters, and distribution of forms and collection across the state. They are now busy with field work. Due to this, recording attendance through biometric or Karthavya Attendance App has become difficult for them.
He requested the chief secretary to issue a directive to heads of all departments and deputy commissioners to grant temporary exemption to these officers and staff from daily attendance recording obligations till the completion of SIR.
During this period, their attendance is proposed to be recorded by electoral registration officers (EROs) based on certificates issued by them. With thousands of staff deployed in the field from morning till evening, the rigid attendance system has reportedly created logistical challenges, forcing them to shuttle between their places of work and their parent departments to ensure their attendance is marked.
Government departments are now expected to issue orders at the earliest to facilitate the request, allowing election personnel to focus exclusively on SIR without any administrative bottlenecks.