BLOs engaged in SIR work allowed to mark attendance as ‘On Other Duty’

The Booth Level Officers visiting households and distributing enumeration forms as part of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bengaluru on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

The Booth Level Officers visiting households and distributing enumeration forms as part of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bengaluru on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

The Chief Electoral Officer for Karnataka has announced a relaxation in attendance rules for Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and other personnel engaged in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls for 2026.

The decision follows requests from Deputy Commissioners seeking exemption from the routine attendance requirements on the Kartavya mobile application for officials carrying out field duties outside their offices. Based on these requests, the Election Commission approached the State’s Chief Secretary, and the government has approved the proposal.

Accordingly, BLOs and other staff members performing field duties can now mark their attendance using the ‘On Other Duty’ (OOD) option on the Kartavya app instead of the regular attendance mechanism.

Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbu Kumar directed all officers and staff involved in field-level work to use the OOD option while on election-related duty outside their offices. He also asked them to refer to the instructional video issued by the Election Commission to ensure the attendance is marked correctly.

The move is expected to ease compliance for field staff involved in the intensive electoral roll revision exercise, allowing them to focus on door-to-door verification and other election-related tasks without being constrained by routine office attendance requirements.

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