Over 100 Booth Level Officers Protest Unpaid Election Dues at Secunderabad Cantonment

More than 100 Booth Level Officers (BLOs), including Anganwadi teachers, staged a protest at the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) office in Hyderabad on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, over unpaid remuneration for past election duties. The demonstration, which began around noon, disrupted the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) electoral exercise as the officers suspended their work of distributing enumeration forms.

The Secunderabad Cantonment Board had deployed Anganwadi teachers and other workers to carry out the SIR exercise within the Secunderabad Cantonment assembly constituency. However, on Wednesday, the women BLOs decided to halt their duties and gathered at the SCB office to register their protest.

According to the protesting BLOs, the State government has failed to pay their remuneration for attending poll duties during both the Secunderabad Cantonment assembly elections and the subsequent by-election. Despite these outstanding dues, the workers noted that they were once again assigned to new SIR duties.

The protest at the SCB office continued for about an hour. During this time, the BLOs raised slogans against the State government for keeping their payments pending for several years. The protesters stated that each BLO is entitled to receive between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000 for their election duties, but they have only received a meagre amount of around five percent of their total payment so far.

The demonstration ended after local officials intervened to address the grievances. Devender, the Superintendent of the SCB Health wing and the in-charge of the BLOs, assured the protesters that the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) had received a cheque regarding the pending payments.

Devender explained that the funds would be disbursed on the following Monday, noting that the distribution was temporarily delayed because the CEO was currently out of station.

The issue also sparked political criticism. Manne Krishank, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) official spokesperson and leader in Secunderabad Cantonment, posted about the protest on social media, where he criticized the State government for the non-payment of remuneration to the BLOs.