Kolkata, Feb 16 (PTI) A booth-level officer (BLO) was seriously injured after being allegedly assaulted by a man during the ongoing SIR exercise in West Bengal’s Nadia district, a police officer said.
BLO Ali Saheb was attacked when he went to a village in Kaliganj area on Sunday to verify cases of “logical discrepancies” in voter data under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Saheb was attacked when he informed a resident, Alifa Bibi, who was accompanied by her husband, Ayatullah Sheikh, that they would need to attend a special hearing for the correction of documents submitted by their family.
“According to the police complaint received, the BLO was allegedly attacked after he conveyed to Alifa Bibi that a hearing would be required to address the inconsistency in the age difference between her daughter and Sheikh,” the officer said.
When the BLO pleaded helplessness in personally resolving the issue and said the only way out would be EC’s intervention to call a special hearing session for the family, all of a sudden, Sheikh allegedly hit the BLO with a stick, which led to heavy bleeding from his head, the police officer said.
The injured BLO was taken for medical attention, and several stitches had to be performed on his head.
However, Sheikh rejected the charge of assault and filed a counter-complaint against the BLO, accusing him of misbehaviour.
“The man has denied the allegations and claimed that the BLO was harassing his family. We have received a counter-complaint as well,” the officer said.
Police were examining both versions of events and would proceed in accordance with the law.
The incident has once again drawn attention to the risks faced by field-level election workers who travel door to door as part of verification work during SIR, which will come to an end following the publication of the final electoral roll on February 28, officials said. PTI SUS ACD
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