Nagpur: Election Commission’s online ‘Book a Call’ facility, introduced to help voters connect with their Booth Level Officers (BLOs) during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), has witnessed a decent public response. With 35,666 Book-a-Call requests, Nagpur district is fifth in Maharashtra in using the facility.However, official data reveals that while over 7.51 lakh voters across the state have booked calls with BLOs, nearly one in every four requests is still awaiting a response, with the overwhelming majority pending for more than two days. In Nagpur, 25,200 requests have been responded to, while 6,534 remain pending. Notably, 6,173 of these pending requests — over 94% — have been awaiting a response for more than 48 hours.As of Aug 4, the state has recorded 7,51,040 requests. Of these, 5,63,908 requests (75.1%) have been responded to, while 1,33,512 remain pending. More significantly, 1,23,772 pending requests — over 92% of backlog —have been awaiting action for more than 48 hours, suggesting that the pending cases are not merely recent requests but accumulated backlogs. Only Mumbai Suburban (1,41,542), Thane (1,28,592), Pune (1,19,689) and Nashik (36,311) are ahead of Nagpur in Book-a-Call requests.The report also highlights another challenge. Across Maharashtra, 53,620 electors who had booked calls were marked as ‘unavailable’ when BLOs tried contacting them. Nagpur alone accounted for 3,932 such cases, indicating that while response delays remain an issue, unsuccessful contact attempts due to voter unavailability are also contributing to pendency.Gadchiroli recorded the fewest Book-a-Call requests at 828, followed by Sindhudurg (1,042), Gondia (1,363) and Bhandara (1,511). Gadchiroli also had only 51 requests pending, while Sindhudurg had 132.Officials said the Book-a-Call feature was introduced to make SIR drive more accessible by allowing voters to seek assistance without waiting for a house visit. Via the portal, electors can request a callback from their designated BLO for guidance on filling Enumeration Forms, clarifying doubts or coordinating document collection.
