Beed: BLO Assaulted In Parli During SIR Drive; 4 Booked

Beed: A Booth Level Officer (BLO) and Zilla Parishad school teacher, Mehfooz Zakir Shaikh, was allegedly assaulted while performing official election-related duties under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign after being questioned over why he had not delivered a voter registration form to a resident's home.

The incident occurred at around 11am on July 17 at the Abdul Hamid Shadikhana polling booth in the Peth Mohalla area of Parli Vaijnath. A case was registered at the Parli City Police Station on July 18.

According to the complaint, Shaikh was conducting a voter registration camp under the SIR programme when Shaker Ahmed Shaikh, Junaid Shaikh, Shoaib Shaikh, and another unidentified person approached him and questioned why he had not delivered the voter registration form to their residence.

When Shaikh explained that a designated camp had been set up for filling out the forms, the accused allegedly snatched the documents from his hands and threw them away. They then allegedly abused him and assaulted him with slaps and punches, the complaint stated.

The situation was brought under control after the intervention of social worker Syed Hasan, the son of a municipal councillor. The accused also allegedly argued with those who intervened.

Based on Shaikh's complaint, the Parli City Police have registered an FIR against Shaker Ahmed Shaikh, Junaid Shaikh, Shoaib Shaikh, and one unidentified person under relevant sections for assault and obstructing a public servant from discharging official duties. Further investigation is underway.

BLOs told to visit voters' homes

District Collector Vinay Gowda GC has directed all BLOs to personally visit voters' homes and carry out work only within their allotted polling booth areas as part of the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls. Stating that the Election Commission aims to ensure a transparent voter verification process, he warned that BLOs should not operate from the offices of government officials, corporators or any other unauthorised locations. He said strict action would be taken against any BLO found violating these instructions.