Chief Election Commissioner Reiterates Importance Of Updated And Error Free Electoral Roll

Chandra, who was speaking at a virtual conference of the Chief Electoral Officers of all the states and Union Territories, stressed the importance of such periodic review meetings for revamping back-end systems so that voter centric services can be delivered swiftly and efficiently on priority.

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New Delhi: Reiterating the importance of an updated and error free electoral roll, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra on Tuesday asked the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) to share the best practices of the various innovative steps taken by the poll-gone states for learning and customization for future elections.

Chandra, who was speaking at a virtual conference of the Chief Electoral Officers of all the states and Union Territories, stressed the importance of such periodic review meetings for revamping back-end systems so that voter centric services can be delivered swiftly and efficiently on priority.

Stating that such CEO review meetings would be institutionalized and will be organized more frequently, he said that CEOs should make sustained year round efforts to engage with new voters for registration and other services like correction, change of address etc. for existing voters and awareness of hassle free facilitation platforms of the Election Commission.

Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on his part asked the CEOs of the recently poll-gone states to suggest ways of scaling up/integrating their successful best practices such as mobile apps for absentee voters, criminal antecedents and randomization of polling /police personnel.

Speaking at the conference organised by the Election Commission, he emphasized that protocols of SOPs for storage and movement of EVMs should be strictly adhered to and monitored by the CEOs.

Asking the CEOs to ensure periodic physical inspection of EVM storage warehouses, Kumar further said that CEOs should send their suggestions and ideas for new reforms to be taken up in the identified verticals being examined by the Core Committee.

Meanwhile, Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey applauded the CEOs for their constructive suggestions.

He said that the non-election period should be utilized by the CEOs to consolidate and fill up gaps of manpower resources and infrastructure, plan for communication and awareness activities and step up training and capacity building as per their state specific needs.

The Chief Electoral Officers of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal shared their experiences and lessons from conducting the elections during the Covid-19 pandemic, while the Chief Electoral Officers of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh particularly briefed the poll body about various challenges, innovations and suggestions for the upcoming assembly polls in their respective states.

During the review meeting, the poll body also e-launched the ‘Atlas on General Elections 2019’, which includes 42 thematic maps and 90 tables depicting various facets of the elections.

The Atlas highlights salient features such as data of the 23 states and UTs where women voting percentage was more than the male voting percentage besides information about the largest parliamentary constituency in terms of electors, candidates and performance of political parties amongst other parameters.