The Kanyakumari lawmaker accuses the Election Commission of pushing BLOs into ‘extreme, life-threatening pressure’ without proper planning, consultation or logistical support
NEW DELHI — Congress MP from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, Vijay Kumar, popularly known as Annachi Vijay Vasanth, on Monday moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha seeking an urgent debate on what he described as a “crisis-like situation” triggered by the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Tamil Nadu is among 12 states and UTs where SIR is being carried out.
Calling the SIR “unplanned, opaque and one-sided,” the lawmaker accused the Election Commission of pushing Booth Level Officers (BLOs) into “extreme, life-threatening pressure” without proper planning, consultation or logistical support. He said the hurried verification process had forced BLOs to work under such intense stress that “many have collapsed and some have tragically died while on duty.”
Vasanth criticised the Election Commission for failing to acknowledge, investigate, or publish data on the deaths of field staff, terming the silence “institutional cruelty of the worst kind.” He said the absence of transparency and accountability had deepened distrust among those administering the revision exercise.
Highlighting widespread public distress, the MP said ordinary citizens were being subjected to repeated, confusing verification visits, leading to errors, panic and apprehensions about exclusion from the voter rolls. “The entire SIR has become an anti-people, anti-democratic exercise,” he noted.
In his adjournment motion, Vasanth demanded that the Centre immediately suspend the SIR until safety protocols, clear guidelines and proper timelines are established.
He also sought a full investigation into all reported BLO deaths and compensation for the families of deceased BLOs. He also demanded that structural reforms to ensure voter-roll processes remain transparent and citizen-friendly.
Furthermore, he said, Parliament must seek Election Commission’s explanation on the planning, conduct and fallout of the SIR exercise.
The demand adds to growing political pushback against the Election Commission’s handling of the revision process, which several parties and civil society groups have criticised as hurried, poorly supervised and prone to disenfranchisement.
