CHANDIGARH, MAY 16 — Chief Electoral Officer Punjab Anindita Mitra held a strategic briefing with representatives of registered and recognized political parties on Friday, calling for the immediate deployment of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) ahead of the state’s upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The specialized voter roll cleanup, which draws on baseline frameworks from a similar intensive exercise conducted in 2003, requires structured coordination between the state election machinery and local political entities to maintain absolute clarity.
“Timely deployment of BLAs would facilitate their training alongside Booth Level Officers (BLOs), while ensuring regular sharing of information at every stage of the exercise to maintain complete transparency,” Mitra stated, urging parties to quicken the assignment of BLA-1 officials across all jurisdictions.
According to the official timeline, the field operations are scheduled to begin next month. From June 25 to July 24, 2026, a massive contingent of 24,453 BLOs, backed by 2,476 Supervisors, 117 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), and 234 Assistant EROs, will conduct extensive door-to-door visits to collect voter forms. Comprehensive technical training for this election workforce will take place from June 15 to June 24, 2026.
The chief electoral official noted that the fundamental purpose of the intensive drive is the absolute verification of registries, focusing on enrolling new eligible citizens while scrubbing out duplications.
“Holding duplicate votes is an offence under the Constitution of India and is punishable with imprisonment of up to one year,” Mitra declared, stating that state data mapping has already progressed significantly, achieving 89.58 percent completion in rural regions and 73 percent in urban pockets.
The all-party convention saw active attendance from prominent regional delegates, including Ferry Sofat of the Aam Aadmi Party, N.K. Verma of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Dr. Daljit Singh Cheema of the Shiromani Akali Dal, and Dr. Amar Singh representing the Indian National Congress, along with leaders from several registered unrecognized organizations.
The administration concluded the session by noting that the state’s official toll-free election helpline, 1950, has been configured to remain operational around the clock for the entire duration of the revision period to resolve public queries.
