Barwani, Jan 21 (NationPress) The Madhya Pradesh Congress chief, Jitu Patwari, asserted on Wednesday that a minimum of 5 percent of the government-appointed Booth Level Officers (BLOs) involved in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process are allegedly acting under the influence of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Patwari accused that numerous tribal individuals, who support the Congress and have relocated for work, are facing removal from the electoral roll.

He issued a stern warning that BLOs who remove the names of Congress supporters at the behest of the BJP will encounter legal repercussions.

“I caution the government-appointed BLOs that if they intentionally eliminate the names of tribals and Congress supporters from the voter list, the Congress party will file a First Information Report (FIR) against them,” Patwari remarked during a media briefing in Barwani district.

Alongside the State’s Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar, who also attended a party function in the tribal-populated Sendhwa assembly constituency, Patwari pointed out that while 95 percent of BLOs are performing their duties with integrity, 5 percent are acting as agents for the BJP.

Moreover, he highlighted that the Congress party has detected several irregularities in the electoral rolls being prepared by the Election Commission.

“In the last few days, we have observed the BJP's conspiracy, pressuring BLOs to eliminate the names of Congress supporters. We will unveil this conspiracy,” he added.

It is important to note that over 65,000 BLOs, who are state employees including teachers and Anganwadi workers, are participating in the SIR initiative in Madhya Pradesh.

In a related development, on the same day, Madhya Pradesh Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar sent a letter to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), calling for urgent attention to “discrepancies” and a “lack of transparency” in the SIR of electoral rolls.

In his correspondence, Singhar expressed grave concern over widespread system-generated discrepancies and a lack of clarity in the verification process that have emerged following the draft electoral roll's release under the SIR.

He noted that a significant number of voters’ names have appeared in discrepancy lists across nearly all districts. These discrepancies include entries like having more than six children, inconsistencies in the father’s name, or an age difference of less than 15 years or more than 50 years between the parents and the voter.

“These discrepancies are purely data-driven and system-generated indicators intended solely for flagging verification cases, without drawing conclusions about voter eligibility. However, the magnitude of these discrepancies is so extensive that it affects millions of voters, causing fear and confusion among the electorate,” Singhar elaborated in his letter.

It is noteworthy that after conducting the SIR exercise, the Election Commission released the draft electoral roll for Madhya Pradesh on December 23, indicating that more than 42.7 lakh voters (7.4 percent) could potentially be removed.