Pune SIR: Congress appoints just 225 BLAs, none in 16 of 21 Assembly segments

3 min readPuneJul 3, 2026 07:17 PM IST

The district administration has deployed 8,417 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for the exercise.(Express Photo by Soham Shah)

The Congress has appointed just 225 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Pune district, with no BLAs appointed in 16 of the district’s 21 Assembly constituencies, according to data shared by the Pune District Election Office.

In comparison, the BJP has appointed 6,201 BLAs across the district. Other parties have also deployed substantially more BLAs than the Congress, with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) appointing 3,270, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) 990, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) 2,168 and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena 2,371. The Bahujan Samaj Party has appointed five BLAs.

Of the Congress’s 225 BLAs, 115 have been appointed in Shivajinagar, 60 in Kasba Peth, 48 in Kothrud and one each in Vadgaon Sheri and Daund. The party has not appointed any BLAs in the remaining 16 Assembly constituencies. In contrast, the BJP has appointed hundreds of BLAs in all but two constituencies.

Pune District Collector Jitendra Dudi has repeatedly appealed to political parties to appoint BLAs to facilitate the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision exercise. Door-to-door distribution of enumeration forms began on June 30 and will continue until July 9.

The district administration has deployed 8,417 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for the exercise. BLAs, who are appointed by recognised political parties, assist BLOs and help voters during the electoral roll revision process.

Responding to the low number of appointments, Pune City Congress president Prashant Jagtap said the party was in the final stages of appointing its BLAs.

“We are in the final stage of filling the forms. Tomorrow and the day after, all our forms will be completed. By Monday, we will have appointed over 75 per cent of our BLAs,” Jagtap told The Indian Express.

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In April, the Maharashtra Congress had urged the Election Commission to allow 18 months to two years for the Special Intensive Revision, arguing that no elections were scheduled in the state in the immediate future and that a longer timeline would ensure greater accuracy. The party noted that the previous SIR exercise, conducted in 2002-03, had taken 13 months to complete.

A delegation led by Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal had told the state’s Chief Electoral Officer that the electorate had expanded by nearly 3.5 crore over the past 25 years, making it impractical to complete the exercise within two to three months.

Following the completion of form distribution and verification, the draft electoral roll will be published on August 5. Claims and objections can be filed between August 5 and September 4, with their disposal scheduled to be completed by October 3. The final electoral roll will be published on October 7.

© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd

Soham Shah is a Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Pune. A journalism graduate with a background in fact-checking, he brings a meticulous and research-oriented approach to his current reporting.

Professional Background

Role: Correspondent coverig education and city affairs in Pune.

Specialization: His primary beat is education, but he also maintains a strong focus on civic issues, public health, human rights, and state politics.

Key Strength: Soham focuses on data-driven reporting on school and college education, government reports, and public infrastructure.

Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)

His late 2025 work highlights a transition from education-centric reporting to hard-hitting investigative and human-rights stories:

1. Investigations & Governance

"Express Impact: Mother's name now a must to download birth certificate from PMC site" (Dec 20, 2025): Reporting on a significant policy change by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) following his earlier reports on gender inclusivity in administrative documents.

"44-Acre Mahar Land Controversy: In June, Pune official sought land eviction at Pawar son firm behest" (Nov 9, 2025): An investigative piece on real estate irregularities involving high-profile political families.

2. Education & Campus Life

Faculty crisis at SPPU hits research, admin work: 62% of govt-sanctioned posts vacant, over 75% in many depts (Sept 12, 2025): An investigative piece on professor vacancies at Savitribai Phule Pune University.

"Maharashtra’s controversial third language policy: Why National Curriculum Framework recommends a third language from Class 6" (July 2): This detailed piece unpacks reasons behind why the state's move to introduce a third language from class 1 was controversial.

"Decline in number of schools, teachers in Maharashtra but student enrolment up: Report" (Jan 2025): Analyzing discrepancies in the state's education data despite rising student numbers.

3. Human Rights & Social Issues

"Aanchal Mamidawar was brave after her family killed her boyfriend" (Dec 17, 2025): A deeply personal and hard-hitting opinion piece/column on the "crime of love" and honor killings in modern India.

"'People disrespect the disabled': Meet the man who has become face of racist attacks on Indians" (Nov 29, 2025): A profile of a Pune resident with severe physical deformities who became the target of global online harassment, highlighting issues of disability and cyber-bullying.

Signature Style

Soham is known for his civil-liberties lens. His reporting frequently champions the rights of the marginalized—whether it's students fighting for campus democracy, victims of regressive social practices, or residents struggling with crumbling urban infrastructure (as seen in his "Breathless Pune" contributions). He is adept at linking hyper-local Pune issues to larger national conversations about law and liberty.

X (Twitter): @SohamShah07 ... Read More

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