A Booth Level Officer (BLO) in Tavanur mandal, north Kerala, who was posted in electoral roll update has been suspended after a very despicable episode where he was caught on camera exposing himself on a voter verification mission. The video-recorded inappropriate act appeared on TV channels several days after it happened and caused outrage among people and made the government respond instantaneously.
The officials of the district administration indicated that the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) was informed of the incident on November 23. District Collector V. R. Vinod reviewed the issue and on Monday gave a show-cause notice to the officer and relieved him of all duties. There is a new BLO who has been appointed to finish the rest of the works under Special Intensive Revision (SIR) programme.
The video shows the policemen suddenly standing up and raising his mundu (dhoti) before the person who captures the video. He was filling out voter enumeration forms at the time in the presence of several individuals including women. The authorities have raised an alarm regarding the actions of the officer pointing out that such actions are unethical, particularly in an election process that is open to the people and therefore demands confidence and professionalism.
The tussle unfolds as the SIR exercise, which has been underway in Kerala, is getting more and more controversial. The state administration has been attacked by the opposition parties on grounds of poor management and dangerous working conditions. There have been reported cases of BLOs fainting or collapsing in duty since the time the counting started on November 4. Sadly, there have been at least three officials killed in the process. The government has established that 2 of these deaths have been instances of suicide and that the third one was under what they termed as unnatural conditions.
As the scrutiny of the people grows, officials have promised that something is being done to make the SIR process proceed without complications. The administration has reaffirmed that it will ensure that the voter verification process is conducted in a manner that is not compromised.
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