Archive · 7 Dec 2025
BLOs Face Challenges in India's Election Process
In India, people called Booth Level Officers (BLOs) help voters fill out forms for elections.
Some voters in north Bengal speak Hindi better than Bengali, which makes it hard for them to fill out forms in Bengali or English.
This makes the job of entering voter details into an app more difficult.
The app sometimes crashes, and BLOs have to do everything on their phones while visiting houses.
One BLO, Rinku Tarafdar, felt so much pressure because she didn't know how to use the app that she sadly passed away.
Many BLOs feel stressed because they don't get enough training and the app isn't very easy to use.
BLOs in north Bengal face challenges due to voters' language barriers and app issues.
The EC app crashes during peak hours and is only accessible via cellphone.
BLOs report lack of proper training, causing increased stress and workload.
Rinku Tarafdar, a BLO, died due to the unbearable pressure of completing her duties.
BLOs have to enter and upload all data from their phones while visiting houses.
- Who
- Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in India
- What
- Challenges faced by BLOs in digitizing voter details and completing their duties
- When
- During the election process, with a recent incident on 22 November
- Where
- North Bengal’s tea gardens and Krishnanagar’s Chapra booth 201 in Nadia
- Why
- Due to language barriers, lack of technical training, app crashes, and heavy workload
- Primary Voters
- Scheduled Tribes in north Bengal’s tea gardens
- Language Barrier
- Forms in Bengali or English, voters more fluent in Hindi
- Digitization Time
- Oraon takes 10 minutes per voter, others take less than 5
- App Issues
- EC app crashes during peak hours, only accessible via cellphone
- BLO Workload
- Rinku Tarafdar died due to unbearable workload and lack of technical knowledge