In Bengal, TMC lags BJP in number of BLAs, Opp says ruling party relies on BLOs | Kolkata News

The BLA, the agent appointed by a political party to work directly with the Booth Level Officer (BLO) of the Electoral Commission, is the foot soldier of the electoral process, and is crucial during activities such as SIR for electoral rolls. Their role is to verify voter data, report discrepancies such as dead or changed voters, and protect their party’s interests at the grassroots level.

Surprisingly, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party currently leads the group, showing a major focus on organizational depth at the booth level.

The gap between the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the ruling TMC, despite the latter’s dominant political footprint, has raised speculation.

BJP leader Rahul Sinha said that the low number of BLA for TMC was linked to their unwillingness to extend full support to the SIR process.

“TMC never wanted to send BLOs. So naturally, they did not give enough BLAs. They have workers and organization. If they wanted, they could have given BLOs everywhere. Their strategy is not to spread BLOs everywhere. In fact, there are BLOs, who distribute the SIR form from the party office. The Election Commission should take strict action against these people. As far as the BJP is concerned. There are many minority pockets where we don’t have workers on the ground. Even the Election Commission should take strict action against these people. As far as the BJP is concerned, there are many minority pockets where we don’t have workers on the ground,” Sinha told The Indian newspaper. Express: “If there are one or two, they do not want to identify themselves as BLA members of the BJP for obvious reasons.”

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said TMC’s low BLA numbers are due to their “over-reliance on official BLOs”.

“Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) had earlier said that she would not let SIR happen in the state until she was alive. Now, she has realized that there is no other way. As far as BLAs are concerned, the TMC feels that BLOs are their party workers. So, there is no need for any additional person like BLA. With this thought, they do not feel the need to add more BLAs. But if this turns out to be true on ground, it will be a tough time for BLOs,” the CPI(M) leader said.

On the other hand, TMC said that the data shared by the European Commission is outdated.

“BJP has not been able to deploy BLAs in majority of the booths because they have no organization or workers there. Their leaders themselves are aware of this. The Congress is only in a few pockets in districts like Malda, Murshidabad and some other areas. The BJP (Maoist) has lost most of its cadre to the BJP. In my constituency of Jadavpur, the BLO was accompanied by TMC and CPIM BLAs. The BJP BLA was absent. This is because there are no BJP workers here. We provided BLAs at all booths.