Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) C Sudershan Reddy has directed the police to take immediate action in connection with the assault of women Booth Level Officers (BLO) and submit a compliance report on the matter.
Reddy asked the Director General of Police (DGP) CV Anand and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Commission (GHMC) Commissioner RV Karnan to enquire into the incident and act without delay, directing that a compliance report be furnished both to the Telangana State Commission for Women and to his office at the earliest.
He described the matter as “most urgent” and asked officials to proceed accordingly.
The case pertains to the assault of women BLOs and their obstruction while they were carrying out official election duties as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The incident
At least two women BLOs were allegedly assaulted on July 14 while conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills area. The incident took place at NBT Nagar under Polling Station no 237, where the officials were going door-to-door distributing enumeration forms.
The complainant was accompanied at the time by fellow BLOs Devi, Nagajyothi, Vijaya and Shravani, along with supervisor Venkatesh and colleague Jayakrishna, according to the complaint.
Four persons, identified as Jojula Raju, Rajitha, Shankaramma and Narasimha, allegedly arrived at the spot and interfered with the officials’ work, insisting that enumeration forms be handed out only to people of their choosing. The group allegedly threatened the BLOs with consequences if they did not comply.
The complainant alleged that Rajitha and Shankaramma physically assaulted her and fellow BLO Devi, besides verbally abusing the team and obstructing them from carrying out their duties. The BLOs also alleged that the same group had threatened them at the same spot a day earlier.
Case registered
Police have registered a case based on the complaint and launched an investigation.
The CEO’s intervention comes amid heightened scrutiny of the SIR exercise, with poll officials across the state having flagged concerns over the safety of ground-level staff carrying out door-to-door verification work.
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