NEW DELHI, Aug 10: The chief electoral officers of the states where assembly polls were held recently on Wednesday shared their experiences with their counterparts in the states where elections would be held in the coming months.
The CEOs of states such as West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur shared their election-related experiences with their counterparts in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Karnataka and Mizoram where polls would be held either later this year or next year.
They participated in a conference held here to share experiences and learnings from the assembly elections held in 2021 and 2022, along with thematic discussions on election planning, expenditure monitoring, electoral roll, IT applications, data management, and EVM and paper trail machines.
During his address, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar complimented the CEOs of the states where assembly polls were held recently for the successful conduct of the exercise in testing times.
He emphasised that initiatives and innovations by states need to be scrupulously replicated without compromising the integrity of the election process.
He said individual initiatives and innovations by CEOs on the use of IT in election management need to be comprehensively analysed with implementable feature efforts.
Kumar also mentioned the need for scientific management of election materials for optimal utilisation as well as a digital portal for easy access of all outreach content developed by states and the Election Commission.
The CEOs were directed to ensure that representatives from the national and state disaster response forces are also called for coordination meetings. With changing connectivity and technological landscape, he highlighted that polling stations need to be geo-tagged and route charts need to be revised by the district administration.
Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey highlighted the need to brainstorm ideas and best practices which can be emulated.
During the conference, the Election Commission also felicitated officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Central Armed Police Forces and the Ministry of Railways for their significant contribution in the conduct of elections in a free, fair, peaceful and transparent manner in 2022.
Chief Election Commissioner Kumar complimented them for their meticulous planning and time-bound movement of election personnel.
The poll panel has also extended the grant of honorarium to ad-hoc commandants and commandants of forces deployed on election duty. (PTI)
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