Chandigarh, August 4 - Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Mr. A. Srinivas informed that the Election Commission of India is taking its responsibility of conducting free, fair and transparent elections in the country with full seriousness. In this regard, the Commission has taken a historic step towards giving due respect to the officers and employees who play an important role and ensuring fair remuneration for their hard work, by doubling the annual salary of booth level officers.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that the voter list is the cornerstone of democracy. In ensuring its accuracy, the Election Registration Officer, Helper Election Registration Officer, BLO Supervisors, and Booth Level Officers play an important role. These officers work tirelessly at the ground level to keep the election process fair, transparent and correct.
He said that the Commission has increased the annual salary of Booth Level Officers from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000, the incentive amount to be received by BLOs participating in the verification process of voter list has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000, and the honorarium of BLO supervisors has also been revised from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000 annually.
Similarly, for the first time, the Commission has also fixed honorarium for Election Registration Officers and Helper Election Registration Officers, in which Rs 30,000 will be given to EROs and Rs 25,000 to AEROs. Mr. Nivasan said that this amendment has been made for the first time after the year 2015.
Apart from this, the Commission had also approved a special incentive of Rs 6,000 for BLOs for special verification starting from Bihar.
Mr. A. Srinivas said that this decision reflects the commitment of the Election Commission to compensate those election workers who work tirelessly at the field level to maintain accurate voter lists, help voters and strengthen the election process.