The Supreme Court on Thursday issued directions to redress problems faced by booth-level officers during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, Live Law reported.

The court asked the state governments to depute additional staff for the exercise so that the working hours of the booth-level officers can be “proportionately reduced” to alleviate their hardship.

The exercise is underway in 12 states and Union Territories: the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

At least eight suicides by booth-level officers and at least seven deaths have been reported in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said that the officers deputed for the exercise by the state poll panels are at the disposal of the Election Commission and are “obligated to perform such duties”.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam seeking a stay on coercive actions by the Election Commission against booth-level officers for lapses in the duties related to the revision of voter lists.

Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the petitioner, alleged that notices were being sent to the booth-level officers saying that they will be imprisoned for two years if they do not meet deadlines, citing first information reports filed in Uttar Pradesh, Bar and Bench reported.

“They [Election Commission] are taking pride in this,” Sankaranarayanan was quoted as saying. “There was a boy who wanted to attend his wedding. He was denied and he committed suicide. This is a human story.”

On November 24, reports stated that more than 60 booth-level officers and seven supervisors were booked in Noida for allegedly failing to comply with orders from senior officials during the revision process.

In Bahraich district, the administration has ordered FIRs against five booth-level officers, withheld salaries of 42 personnel and suspended a village-level revenue officer for alleged negligence.

The poll panel opposed the petition.

On Thursday, the court said that if the officers “are facing hardship, including they being overburdened with their routine duties as well as the additional duties” assigned by the poll panel, the state government can “obviate such hardships”, Live Law reported.

When an employee has specific reasons to seek exemption from the duty assigned by the Election Commission, the state government should consider the request on a case-to-case basis and replace the person with another employee, the court was quoted as having directed.

The bench added: “In other words, the state shall be obligated to deploy the requisite workforce at the disposal of the ECI, though the strength of such employees can be increased.”

On Sunday, the Election Commission extended by one week the timeline for the exercise. The last date of submitting the forms was extended to December 11 from December 4.

The final electoral rolls are to be published on February 14.

In Bihar, where the revision was completed ahead of the Assembly polls in November, at least 47 lakh voters were excluded from the final electoral roll published on September 30.

Concerns had been raised after the announcement in Bihar that the exercise could remove eligible voters from the roll. Several petitioners also moved the Supreme Court against it.

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