New Delhi [India], December 9 (ANI): The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking its response on a plea seeking protection for BLOs (Booth Level Officers) deployed to perform enumeration duty during the ongoing SIR (Special Intensive Revision) drive against threats and violence in the State of West Bengal.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi acknowledged that BLOs are working under 'strain and stress' at the ground level due to high work pressure in the SIR drive.

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"This is not desk work. They go to each house, verify, submit the enumeration to him (the BLO), and he uploads it. He goes from house to house for the enumeration process, then takes it and uploads it. This is the pressure they are under. Which is strain and stress," the Court verbally stated.

Arguing that the BLOs are facing violent threats in West Bengal, senior counsel V. Giri, representing the petitioner, stressed the need to provide them protection by deploying Central forces.

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Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing ECI, on the other hand, submitted that many "political narratives" are being presented in courts, regarding the SIR matters.

However, the bench clarified that it was not considering such political narratives during the hearing of the dispute over the SIR drive. Instead, they are focused "holistically" on SIR being conducted at ground level without any issues, the top court added.

We are not on (political) narratives (being created). We want to ensure that SIR at ground level is done without any issues", Justice Bagchi said during the hearing. CJI Kant also remarked that it's a "serious issue" if BLOs are not provided security.

The top court will continue to hear a batch of pleas challenging ECI's SIR drive in various states across the country in the coming days. The Court will also continue to hear pleas challenging the constitutionality of the SIR recently undertaken in Bihar by the ECI. (ANI)

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