The Booth Level Officer is the official responsible for the electoral roll in your specific polling area. For most voter problems the BLO is a faster and more effective route than any helpline, and almost nobody uses them.
What a BLO does
- Maintains and verifies the roll for one polling station area.
- Conducts house-to-house verification during a revision.
- Collects and forwards Forms 6, 7, 8 and 6B.
- Distributes voter information slips before polling.
- Carries out field verification on a new registration or an address change.
- Helps electors aged 85 and above and those marked as persons with disability apply for postal or home voting using Form 12D.
A BLO is usually a local government employee, often a schoolteacher or anganwadi worker, doing this alongside their main job.
How to find yours
The Election Commission publishes BLO contact details alongside your polling station. Search the roll or use the polling station locator at voters.eci.gov.in, and the officer’s name and number appear with the result.
If the listing is out of date, the Electoral Registration Officer for your Assembly constituency can tell you who covers your area.
What to go to a BLO for
- Your name is missing from the roll and you want it checked properly against the part list.
- You need a paper Form 6, 7 or 8 and help filling it in.
- You are applying for home voting and need Form 12D, which reaches you through the BLO.
- You did not receive a voter information slip.
- You want to know your part number and serial number ahead of polling day.
What a BLO cannot do
A BLO collects and verifies. They do not decide. Inclusion, deletion and correction are decided by the Electoral Registration Officer, and an appeal against that decision goes to the District Election Officer or a District Magistrate depending on the stage.
A BLO also cannot add anyone to a roll that has been frozen for an election, however sympathetic they are. That is why the claims and objections window matters.
On polling day
The BLO is generally not at the booth in an official capacity. Questions there go to the presiding officer, who is responsible for decisions at that polling station. Party agents sitting in the booth are not officials.
The national voter helpline is 1950.
If you cannot reach yours
BLO listings go stale, and postings change. If the published number does not work, escalate rather than give up.
The Electoral Registration Officer for your Assembly constituency is the next step and is usually a local revenue official; contact details are published on your state Chief Electoral Officer’s website. Above that sits the District Election Officer. During a revision, the DEO is also who an appeal against a roll decision goes to.
The national voter helpline on 1950 can route you to the right office. Prefix your STD code if you are calling from outside the state.
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