Monday, 15 November 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
The nodal officer of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation Programme (SVEEP) and district programme officer (DPO) of Dehradun, Akhilesh Mishra has issued orders to withhold one-month allowance of three booth level officers (BLOs) for being absent from their respective election booths on weekends. The sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Vikasnagar Vinod Kumar has also issued a show-cause notice to eight BLOs for arriving late on duty on Sunday.
The district administration conducted a two-day special registration camp for the registration of the new voters at all the polling places of the district this weekend. During his inspection to polling booths of Raipur and Rajpur Road constituencies, the district magistrate and election officer, R Rajesh Kumar found three BLOs absent on their duties. The DM issued a show-cause notice to these officers on the same day. Considering it a grave violation of orders, the SVEEP nodal officer has also issued orders to not release a one-month allowance to the three BLOs. “It was clearly mentioned to them that as per the instructions of the election commission of India, all the BLOs must be present in their respective polling booths to ensure the maximum registration of new potential voters. Despite this, some assigned officers are not taking their duties seriously. I have issued the orders to not release their allowance for this month,” said Mishra. He said that the BLOs will also go door to door in their respective areas to register the new voters in the district from November 15 to 20. He said, “Strict action will be taken against the BLOs for not adhering to their duties under section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.”
Meanwhile, the officials informed that the administration has the target to register two lakh new voters in the district. In the two-day camp, the BLOs registered around 15,000 new voters in 1,873 booths of the district. The DM has ordered officials to raise awareness among the locals in order to encourage them to register in the electoral roll to achieve the target of registering one lakh voters soon.
