A view of the High Court of Karnataka
| Photo Credit: File Photo
The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a PIL petition, which has questioned the practice of routinely appointing anganwadi workers as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) contrary to the ECI’s 2025 guidelines that permit such appointments only when regular State government or local body employees of the ‘Group C’ and above category are unavailable.
Adverse impact
A division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K.S. Hemalekha passed an order on the petition filed by the Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union, which contended that diverting anganwadi workers to the task of BLOs as a routine practice adversely affects essential child welfare services.
It has been pointed out in the petition that the ECI modified guidelines to appoint BLOs on June 5, 2025, stating that BLOs should primarily be appointed from ‘Group C’ and above. Anganwadi workers may only be considered in the absence of such employees, and even then, only after obtaining a prescribed non-availability certificate signed by the Electoral Registration Officer and countersigned by the District Election Officer, stating the non-availability of regular staff of the ‘Group C’ and above category.
Routinely bypassed
The petitioner contends that in Karnataka, this mandatory guideline of the ECI is being routinely bypassed by appointing anganwadi workers as BLOs as a matter of convenience rather than as a rare exception. The union highlights that as early as March 2022, the Department of Women and Child Development had formally requested the Chief Electoral Officer in Karnataka not to deploy anganwadi workers for election work, citing their pre-existing duties related to Early Childhood Care and Education, nutrition services, and maternal welfare.
“Anganwadi workers are already burdened with delivering nutrition to children and pregnant women, pre-school education, and home visits to vulnerable families,” the petition states.
App-based work
The petition further argues that BLO duties have become substantially more complex and sensitive with the introduction of app-based digitisation through platforms, involving house-to-house verification and data handling critical to electoral roll fidelity.
Anganwadi workers lack the training and institutional capacity for such technical responsibilities, posing risks of errors that could affect the integrity of the electoral roll, it has been claimed in the petition.
Published – September 03, 2026 07:02 pm IST
