Election Workers Labour for Democracy but Never Get the Spotlight

The body of a 58-year-old assistant teacher, missing for two days in Muzaffarpur, was found near a railway track one night in late August 2025, according to a report in Patna Press. The deceased, identified as Asha Minj, a resident of Amgola Nitishwar Marg, had reportedly been under severe stress after being assigned Booth Level Officer (BLO) duties alongside her teaching role. According to her colleagues and the Teachers’ Association, she was feeling burdened by the additional election-related work. Official directives have apparently stated that teachers should not be forced into duties outside of teaching.

Asha Minj was reportedly unfamiliar with working on a mobile phone. She was also evidently under pressure from her supervisor to complete the work even if she had to toil late into the night. With all the pressure she was under, she may have concluded that suicide was the only way to deal with the situation.

During elections, discussions about voters, election rallies, leaders and their speeches are everywhere. This is natural since elections revolve around these issues: who will voters vote for, where will the various leaders’ election rallies be held, whose rally attracted the largest crowds, who made the most populist promises? Every election is somehow intertwined with these questions. However, the voices of the officials working on the ground, including BLOs, are often drowned out by the noise.

Just imagine the chaos that erupted in Bihar after the Special Intensive Review (SIR) was introduced, with many people’s names being deleted, while others missed completing the counting forms. Some citizens lack internet access and others lack the means to contact the nearest official to confirm their names. This is where the role of the BLO comes into play. Most people only know that BLOs provide voter information but, actually, their work goes far beyond that and they undergo both mental stress and physical exhaustion.

But, first, what is their work?

Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are appointed by the State Election Commission to ensure that all voters’ list work is carried out properly. Their main responsibilities are the following:

• Maintaining accurate records of all voters in their area.
• Accepting applications for new Voter IDs and verifying the details provided.
• Removal or correction of old or incorrect names from the voters’ list.
• Overseeing necessary arrangements at the polling booth during elections.
• Providing information to voters about the election process.

A BLO can be any government employee, male or female. The Election Commission assigns BLO duties to employees from various government departments. The following could be among those serving as BLOs during elections:

• Teacher
• Anganwadi worker
• Patwari / Amin / Lekhpal
• Panchayat Secretary
• Village level worker
• Electricity bill reader
• Postman
• Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM)
• Health worker
• Mid-day meal worker
• Contract teacher
• Municipal Tax Collector
• Clerical staff in urban areas (e.g. Upper Division Clerk (UDC)/ Lower Division Clerk (LDC)

BLOs are situated at the lowest level of the administrative structure of the electoral system. Above the BLOs are supervisory officers who oversee and closely monitor the quality of their work. Each supervisory officer has approximately 10 to 20 BLOs working under them.

In many places there are more women BLOs because there are more female teachers and other staff at the level from which they are recruited. Given their normal work duties, they tend to be in close contact with the local people. Of course, this is not always necessarily true.

I met two female BLOs during the recent election process in Bihar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) that preceded it. My experiences with each of them was very different. I am not revealing the women’s names not only to respect their privacy but also because of the constraints that apply to government workers.

According to one of the female BLOs from the Muzaffarpur constituency, electoral work required going door to door but she received no assistance. Several men with social influence asked her to do her work sitting outside the house (outdoors), irrespective of the weather. She also said it was difficult to explain the SIR or Part Number (number identifying the constituency) to all voters. Furthermore, she faced some difficulties due to her advanced age. According to her, the attitude of some of the men made her work even more difficult.  They seemed to think that as a woman she would not be able to complain about their behaviour. She said that, despite all these difficulties, she did her work with full dedication.

In my own experience, the local BLO was present at the booth where I went to vote. She also personally went around the neighbourhood distributing voter slips and was always available to provide information to people.

On the other hand, another BLO had his son perform all the work on his behalf, including applying online to add names to the new voters’ list and submitting the enumeration form to be filled out. This male BLO of the Muzaffarpur constituency was not to be seen anywhere in the locality. To make matters worse, he charged money for adding names to the new voters’ list even though this work is supposed to be done free of charge.

While many people, even in rural areas, may now be familiar with using the internet or a smartphone, a large number of rural women from socially and economically disadvantaged sections of society are unfamiliar with these technologies. Being forced to work with smartphones without adequate training and practice can cause stress. Under the circumstances, tragedies like the death of Asha Minj are inevitable.

The immense work pressure experienced by BLOs often results in their experiencing mental stress. For women, this work is another burden to bear – in addition to their household chores and regular work as government employees. It involves outdoor activities, meeting new people and facing pressure from various influential figures, including local politicians. All this can become quite challenging.

It is, therefore, crucial to make the festival of democracy, known as elections, a little easier for BLOs. For starters, a fixed shift should be established so they can better balance their personal work and their regular paid work along with their official election-related duties.

Saumya Jyotsna is a three-time winner of the Laadli Media Award, and has been in journalism since 2019. She has participated in several fellowships. She is currently a freelance journalist, and is pursuing a PhD from Bihar University.

Edited by Ammu Joseph

Please find the Hindi version here

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