Hyderabad: In parts of Secunderabad, the first day of the SIR exercise was marked by logistical hurdles, with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) spending much of the day tracking down residents who had either shifted homes, were unavailable, or could not be contacted.L Srinivas, a BLO from the Habsiguda area, told TOI: “In several localities, we found that voters no longer lived at the addresses listed in the electoral rolls. In many cases, residents had moved three to four km away, requiring us to make additional visits or gather updated details through neighbours and local contacts.”The problem was particularly evident in rapidly growing residential areas, where families frequently relocate within the city, he added.P Mahesh, a BLO supervisor in the Tarnaka area, faced similar challenges. “Under election guidelines, BLOs are required to revisit households where residents are unavailable. This means we must return repeatedly until forms are delivered and voter details are verified. In neighbourhoods with a large working population, many residents were away at their offices during the day, leaving BLOs with little choice but to schedule multiple follow-up visits.”He added that some residents were unaware of the SIR exercise and were apprehensive when BLOs arrived at their doorstep.“When our BLOs approached them with the forms, they questioned us and wanted to know why we needed their details,” Mahesh said, adding that this was further increasing the time required to complete the exercise.K Deepika, a BLO in Lalapet, said the situation became more complicated when members of the same family were registered under different polling booths.“In such cases, separate BLOs are assigned to each voter, resulting in multiple officials visiting the same household,” she said, lamenting that the duplication was increasing their workload.Contacting voters over the phone has offered limited relief. BLOs said many mobile numbers listed in electoral records were either switched off, unreachable, or no longer in use. Even when calls connected, residents often informed officials that they were out of station, at work, or temporarily staying elsewhere, making physical verification difficult.P Narayana Rao, assistant electoral registration officer, Secunderabad, said that despite the challenges, BLOs continued door-to-door visits across colonies, apartment complexes, and residential neighbourhoods throughout the day. He maintained that the month-long exercise was crucial to ensuring that electoral rolls remain accurate and updated ahead of future elections.The exercise also brought to the fore the shortage of dedicated election staff. In Uppal, an employee working as a sprayer in the entomology department was assigned BLO duties and deployed to distribute forms in Habsiguda.Similar arrangements have been made across several areas, with personnel from various government departments drafted into election-related work despite having limited experience in voter-verification exercises.
