India, Nov. 23 -- As Rajasthan leads the country with the most being mapped within the two weeks since the SIR survey started in nine states and three Union territories on November 4, the state election department faces accusation of putting undue pressure on booth level officers, allegedly leading to their deaths by suicides or cardiac arrest. In an interview with HT's Senjuti Sengupta, the chief electoral officer of Rajasthan, Naveen Mahajan, talked about the department's effort to take care of the BLOs' work pressure and how it sped up the SIR. Edited excerpts: We took a cue from the Election Commission of India during the Bihar SIR that Rajasthan would be surveyed in the next phase. We began an internal mapping survey, covering more than 70% of the voters by the time the SIR was officially announced, reviewed our old data, along with the SIR data from 2002, and made it available to every BLO, helping us map most voters. We also provided intensive training to our BLOs, held a test for them and met the BLAs from political parties. Over 500 BLOs have completed both the manual and digitisation components. They have not only distributed the enumeration forms but also uploaded the final outcomes to the ECINET portal. Such incidents are disheartening. There have been isolated cases of BLO deaths during the SIR survey, which are exceptional. If you look at the bigger picture, it is one of positive energy, zeal, and commitment. Anticipating this challenge (of more work) for our BLOs, every BLO may have up to three assistants. In rural areas, we appointed ICDS and ASHA workers; in urban areas, medical and health department staff, as well as municipal employees, to support BLOs. Rajasthan has over five crore electors. We expect to reach a point where 80% to 85% of voters will not need to produce any documents. There are migration issues, so the figure may be lower in urban areas and higher in rural regions. Those who are not mapped will receive a notice asking them to provide some of the prescribed documents. Once documents are reviewed, the ERO-in-charge will decide on a case-by-case basis if the voter should be included on the list. Those not present during the house-to-house survey will be notified and given a 30-day window to complete their mapping. We are actively reaching out to such socially disadvantaged communities. District collectors have been asked to identify them and provide Form-6. BLOs will help them fill in this Form-6 along with the EF. They are acquired citizens and must have a ministry of home affairs certificate recognising their Indian citizenship. We will consider that certificate. We are working to reach out especially to younger people outside the state by training them to complete the process online. They can submit forms and documents online and easily be mapped through the SIR survey....