1.5 lakh RSS workers enrolled as BLOs in MP: Congress

Bhopal, Nov 8 (IANS) Congress on Saturday alleged that a large number of RSS workers have been appointed as Block Level Officers (BLOs) for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise underway in Madhya Pradesh.

Congress also alleged that the process of SIR exercise started without complete preparation, as most of the BLOs were yet to receive form 18, and the people in more than 65 per cent of villages haven't received those forms.

These startling allegations were made during a press conference addressed by a group of senior Congress leaders, including former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, MP LoP Umang Singhar, PCC chief Jitu Patwari, ex-minister Sajjan Singh Verma and others.

Senior leader Sajjan Singh Verma, who has been appointed as head of a committee of the Congress to look after the SIR issue in the state, briefing the media, said, "More than 1.5 lakh RSS workers have been enrolled for the BLOs job in Madhya Pradesh."

Congress leader further claimed that the contact numbers of around 28,000 BLOs were not disclosed in the list provided by the Election Commission (EC).

“Why are the BLOs’ contact numbers not mentioned in the list provided to the Congress party?” Verma asked.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh alleged differences in the voters’ list being provided to the political parties and presiding officers during the elections.

He demanded that the vote list be frozen immediately after the election dates are announced.

While the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Madhya Pradesh, Umang Singhar, accused the BJP of conspiring to remove around 50,000 eligible voters, especially from Tribal populated districts.

He further stated that Congress is monitoring the SIR strictly and won't allow it to remove eligible voters.

Notably, the Election Commission has kick-started the second phase of the SIR process in nine states, including Madhya Pradesh, and three Union Territories (UTs) from November 4.

The exercise will continue till December 4. For this purpose, one Block Level Officer (BLO) has been deployed at each of the 65,014 polling stations across the state, who will go door-to-door with enumeration forms.

Under this initiative, BLOs have been tasked to provide enumeration forms to electors at their doorstep.

The claims and objections will be accepted until January 8, and after all claims are resolved by January 31, the final voter list will be published on February 7.

--IANS

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