Mumbai: As the house-to-house enumeration exercise for SIR ended on Monday, several citizens expressed fear of being omitted from the draft electoral roll and later the final roll, saying BLOs had not visited their homes. Nearly half of the ‘uncollectable’ forms have been from Mumbai, Thane and Pune.After enumeration began on June 30, many citizens submitted forms online, while others handed over documents and ID proof to visiting BLOs. “Fortunately for us, our BLO was helpful with mapping 2002 data to our grandparents and parents. But my sister-in-law and her family, who live in the eastern suburbs, are disappointed. Their BLO was unable to handle the burden of too many societies and could not take calls,” said a resident of Yari Road, Andheri.His BLO, a BMC employee, told TOI, “SIR has been a stressful time for all BLOs. We have spent time, and our own money, on this. It has taken me away from my regular official duty as well as family time. I have taken calls at odd hours.”Last week, the state govt as well as BMC had issued alerts on social media about the Aug 17 deadline. One Nikki responded, “They (BLOs) are just dropping off forms at our building gate and asking us to bring them to their address which is half an hour away from my house.” Neelesh said, “No BLO has visited us in Naigaon East. Is anyone supervising if the BLO is visiting, and after submission of forms what happens?” Chandrakant Chaugule was anxious as his BLO said they could not map 2002 voter details with their maternal grandparents, though “EC has confirmed we may do so.“A few voiced concern over data privacy and urged EC and BMC to secure it. Like the opposition parties, a Malwani resident expressed doubt that several BLOs had been working out of political party offices or shakhas.– Bella Jaisinghani
