Election Commission Appoints Electoral And District Officers Ahead Of Telangana Assembly Elections

The Election Commission, in consultation with the state government, issued two notifications pertaining to these appointments.

In preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana, the Election Commission of India has taken a significant step by appointing Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and District Election Officers (DEOs) in the state. Two notifications were issued by the Election Commission in consultation with the state government, announcing the appointments of these competent officers.

The first notification designates a select group of officers as Electoral Registration Officers for the 119 Assembly constituencies in Telangana. Their primary responsibility will be to manage the electoral rolls, ensure accurate voter registration, and uphold the integrity of electoral data.

In the second notification, specific officers were appointed as District Election Officers for each of the 33 districts in Telangana. Notably, district collectors have been assigned as District Election Officers in 32 districts. In the Hyderabad district, the Commissioner of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will serve as the District Election Officer. Additionally, several other officials, including additional district collectors, revenue divisional officers, ITDA project officers, GHMC deputy commissioners, municipal commissioners, and deputy collectors, have been appointed as EROs to support the electoral process.

District Collector VP Gautham revealed that training and awareness campaigns for Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) systems will commence on June 20 as part of the election preparations. The district administration has been provided with a total of 3100 Ballot Units (BUs), 2403 Control Units (CUs), and 2359 VVPAT systems.

Engineers from the Electronic Corporation of India (ECI) conducted the first level checking (FLC) of the EVMs and VVPATs between June 25 and July 9. The FLC was carried out in the presence of representatives from national and state-recognized political parties. As per Gautham, 3000 BUs, 2390 CUs, and 2343 VVPATs were found to be in working condition and certified during the FLC. However, 16 VVPATs, 13 CUs, and 100 BUs were identified as non-compliant and were not certified.