Hoshiarpur: As per the directions of Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Komal Mittal, the officers of the District Election Department held a meeting with the representatives of political parties at the District Administrative Complex today. The procedure for appointment of Booth Level Agent (BLA) and related guidelines were discussed in detail in the meeting.
Officials of the District Election Department said that as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, all recognized political parties have been provided the facility to appoint BLA. Its purpose is to ensure transparency in the preparation and purification process of voter list.
During this, the representatives of political parties were told that every recognized political party can authorize its president and secretary to appoint a district representative and a member of the party at the assembly level as BLA. He said that every political party can authorize more than one person as BLA, but they should be voters of the respective constituency.
The BLA will have to obtain a draft copy of the prescribed section of the voter list from the Booth Level Officer. He informed that generally one BLA can be appointed for each section of the voter list and he should be a registered voter of that section. If there are several polling stations in the same building, then one BLA can be given the responsibility of more than one section.
The appointment of BLA will remain valid till the concerned political party decides to change him or removes him from the voter list. District Election Department officials informed that persons working in government, semi-government, public institutions cannot become BLA. The appointment letter of BLA has to be submitted to the Booth Level Officer in the prescribed form.
The representatives of various political parties present in the meeting assured the administration of their cooperation in the smooth implementation of this process. On this occasion, Lakhwinder Singh Lakhi from Shiromani Akali Dal, Bhushan Kumar Sharma from BJP, Rajneesh Tandon from Indian National Congress, Balwinder Singh from CPI(M) and Jaspal Singh from Aam Aadmi Party were present.