SIR: Strapped for time, BLOs skip door-to-door visits; distribute enumeration forms at community halls

The delay in submission of counting forms, incessant calls from voters and the race to meet the deadline are increasing the pressure on booth level officers (BLOs), the foot soldiers of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the city. On the other hand, voters are feeling uneasy as no BLO has arrived at their doorstep after a week has passed since the SIR process was officially launched.

A large number of BLOs from the city and Rangareddy district say they did not receive the forms for SIR-2026 by June 25, 2026, which is the official start date of house-to-house visits of BLOs.

“We received the forms only three days ago. But pressure has been mounting on us since day one. I received around 50 calls from voters before receiving the forms,” ​​said B. Raghavender (name changed), a BLO from LB Nagar constituency. Even in the centrally located Khairatabad constituency, BLOs received the forms only four days ago. As a result of this delay, the majority of BLOs do not go door to door as they are trained to do, but sit at a central polling station and distribute counting forms after noting details on their Photo Voter ID Cards.

“Nobody came to my house. I got my form from the local mosque where my brother went and collected it on my behalf,” said Shiak Moosa from RTC Colony in Chintalkunta.

“Two BLOs came to our community, but most of our names were not on their records. They asked us to visit the polling station, which was a private school where another BLO was sitting on a bicycle surrounded by several voters. My name was not there either and I was directed to go to a nearby community hall,” shared another resident from the same area, requesting anonymity.

Syed Bilal, an activist from Chaderghat’s Moosanagar area, also complained that the forms were distributed in community halls or playgrounds instead of being delivered to homes.

The mandate of each BLO is to cover 1200-1300 voters and conduct at least three doorstep visits before July 24, 2026. Given the time of month, this means at least 40-45 door visits per day per BLO. Even if he spent 10 minutes at each home, which is the minimum amount of time needed to explain the process, BLO would still need about seven hours a day for visits alone, not even accounting for travel time.

“This way we can visit only those voters whose forms are left at the end. This will save us time,” says Nagarani (name changed), another BLO.

As on Wednesday, the form distribution in the city remained below 40% on average. Falling areas in Rangareddy district recorded the lowest rate at 32%, while Hyderabad recorded 42% completion. Medchal-Malkajgiri recorded 37%. This is very low compared to the 80-90% achieved in rural constituencies.

A statement from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer states that the completion rate in the state is 75.73% with a total of 2.56 crore counting forms distributed so far.