BJP cadre comprise nearly two-thirds of total BLAs overseeing Gujarat SIR: RTI report
AHMEDABAD: BJP cadre comprised nearly two-thirds of total number of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) deployed to administer the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Gujarat, revealed a recent RTI report.
Out of a total 73,169 BLAs appointed across Gujarat, a staggering 49,168 belonged to the BJP; Congress followed far behind with 18,057 BLAs, while AAP managed 5,893. Then the numbers fall off a cliff: the BSP had just 49, CPI(M) only 25, and the National People’s Party none at all.
The data points to the stark political imbalance that plagues the booth-level machinery of Gujarat’s SIR process itself.
The SIR in Gujarat began just after the monsoon, when thousands of migrant workers daily-wage earners, construction labourers, farmhands. were away from their villages. Those who were present during the process had many unanswered questions: Which form to fill? What documents to attach? How to prove 2002 electoral mapping?
For most, the SIR wasn’t a civic exercise, it was an administrative maze.
The responsibility of coordinating with election officials, parties and the people fell upon the BLAs who were meant to guide BLOs in the vacuum of awareness and availability.
However, when one party is overrepresented at the administrative level, the neutrality of that assistance becomes a legitimate concern, because BLAs influence who gets help, how quickly, and with what clarity.
The RTI data, therefore, raises a critical question as the SIR exercise nears the end: Can a process meant to cleanse and correct electoral rolls remain equitable when political presence at the booth level is so uneven?
In Gujarat’s SIR story, the consequences, especially for migrant and marginalised voters, may be far more political than procedural.