Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R S Gopalan has suspended a Block Development Officer (BDO) of Mayurbhanj district for gross dereliction of duty related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list, an official said Wednesday.
Banaja Das, the BDO of Badasahi, who also acts as an assistant electoral registration officer (AERO), has been suspended by the CEO, the official said.
Gopalan issued a communication to the district election officer (DEO) and the collector of Mayurbhanj in this regard.
As per the letter, the BDO failed to attend the mandatory virtual training programme for EROs and AEROs held May 23 despite prior intimation.
She also failed to respond to the show-cause notice issued to her regarding her absence.
She has failed to organise the scheduled training programmes for booth-level officers (BLOs) and BLO supervisors May 26 and 27, which are crucial for grassroots-level execution of SIR activities, the CEO said in the letter.
Instead, Das rescheduled the training programme without prior approval from the electoral registration officer, he said.
He further mentioned that the BDO also availed casual leave without proper intimation, remaining absent from duty during important training sessions without prior intimation or approval.
The special intensive revision of the voters’ list in Odisha began Saturday and will continue till June 28. The final voters’ list after SIR will be published September 6, officials said.
A total of 45,255 booth-level officers (BLOs) have been engaged in the exercise. The BLOs will visit door-to-door across Odisha to verify voter details, they said.
