Tension outside West Bengal Chief Election Officer’s office amid BLOs’ protest

Tension escalated outside the West Bengal CEO’s office here on Monday as members of BLO Adhikar Raksha Committee staged a demonstration, raising slogans and attempting to breach police barricades just as BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and several party MLAs arrived there for a scheduled meeting with election officials.

Police had erected multiple layers of barricades and deployed additional forces ahead of the visit of Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the Assembly.

However, minutes after the BJP delegation entered the CEO’s office premises, protesters tried to break through the barricades, insisting that they too be allowed inside to submit a memorandum.

Members of the committee shouted “go back” slogans targeting the opposition leader, triggering sharp verbal exchanges with BJP workers who had also gathered outside.

The committee, which has been protesting for days demanding better working conditions for BLOs, saw its agitation swell on Monday.

The BLO forum members are seeking a two-month extension for the SIR deadline and compensation for families of deceased BLOs, citing heavy workload concerns.

Officials said the sit-in had so far witnessed “limited participation” from actual BLOs, but the crowd grew larger as the standoff intensified.

Inside the CEO’s office, Adhikari submitted a memorandum and raised a series of demands, including the removal of “superannuated IAS officers”, exclusion of EROs who are not of SDO rank, and deletion of names of what he described as “Bangladeshi Muslims” from electoral rolls.

Adhikari later told reporters that BJP had submitted data concerning 17,111 booths and sought strict monitoring of hearings scheduled after December 14.

“No hearing should take place without live CCTV monitoring from the commission’s control room,” he said.

Adhikari described the demonstration by the BLO platform outside the CEO’s office as “scripted by TMC” against the Election Commission, a constitutional body.

“The protests reflect that TMC wants this SIR to stop immediately, so that it can protect its vote bank comprising of infiltrators,” the BJP leader alleged.

As Adhikari exited the CEO’s office, BLO protesters shouted “chor chor” slogans, prompting him to respond with counter-slogans including “chor chor dur hatao, Dakat Rani dur hatao”.

Election officials declined to comment on the protests, saying only that the meeting proceeded as scheduled.