Page 7 - BLO E-Patrika

Stories from ground zero
Breaking the Barriers
How BLOs blend welfare goals and electoral strategy to enroll maximum eligible citizens to vote
Sukru Majhi
77 AC Lanjigarh Village, Odisha
Prevalence of patriarchy can, at times, lead towards
the isolation of women from public sphere. The
story is of the town in Lanjigarh Tehsil in Kalahandi
District of Odisha, dominated by local tribes.
Female voter registration was below the national
average in 2020. It was noticed that illiteracy,
household power dynamics and general
unawareness prevented females from participating
in the electoral process.
The consistent effort of the BLOs like Sukru Majhi of
Booth No 270 resulted in an increase of registration
of woman voter from 17% to 67% in that particular
booth in the year 2022.
A team comprising BLO, AWW, ASHA, moved door
to door & spread awareness about the registration
process.
The BLO facilitated voters with the process of
online registration by using Voter Helpline &
Garuda App.
Contributed by:
Smt Sanghamitra Satpathy, Addl CEO, Odisha
* clickable links
Miningstar Sawkmie *
https://youtu.be/_IVF62xiYyg
https://youtu.be/_IVF62xiYyg
30-Mairang Village, Meghalaya
https://youtu.be/_IVF62xiYyg
The story of the Booth Level Officer, Miningstar
Sawkmie under 30-Mairang village is inspiring and
heart touching. The 52-year-old government lower
primary school teacher from Mawsmai village,
received open hostility from the public while trying
to perform his designated duties and educating the
citizens about the importance of elections.
Despite the odds, he traversed through thick forests
and dilapidated kutcha road to reach his designated
polling station and often has to take shelter beneath
trees to protect himself from scorching sun. The
residents detest him to the extent that during the
door to door visit for enrolment and correction of
EPIC, abuses were hurled at him.
Even with such a reception, he stayed true to his
duty, and conducted the election exercise in the
village with utmost sincerity. The enrolment figures
of the village were mostly low, but the BLO kept on
persuading all to enrol and helping those who were
in need of EPIC. His perseverance has finally started
bearing some fruits as many villagers, who used to
be against him, have started to realize the power
and utility of EPIC and have enrolled themselves.
This alone has encouraged the BLO to proceed
further with the objective to achieve 100%
enrolment in the village.
Contributed by:
Sub-Divisional Officer (Election), I/C Mairang Civil Sub-Division, Mairang, Meghalaya
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