New Delhi, Nov 23 (FN Agency) Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra has stressed on the significance of effectiveness and visibility of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) as they represent the Commission in the States, and reiterated that all efforts should be made to ensure better voter experience in reality. He made the statement while addressing the CEOs of all the States/UTs at a conference organised by the Election Commission (EC) to review various thematic issues related to electoral roll, polling stations, ongoing special summary revision, timely resolution of grievances, EVMs/VVPATs, training and capacity building of polling staff and extensive voter outreach program among others, here on Monday.
The objective of this conference was to identify the gaps and challenges to ensure instructions of the Commission were implemented uniformly in all States /UTs across the country, Chandra was quoted as saying during his address by the EC. The CEC said that the CEOs should have regular interaction with political parties to redress their grievances, if any. He also emphasised that new initiatives and best practices by the CEOs for election-related activities should be regularly disseminated through media for enhanced outreach, the poll panel said in a statement on Tuesday. Election Commissioner (EC) Rajiv Kumar has emphasised that CEOs need to be innovative, more active and should learn from each other’s best practices and challenges. He urged CEOs to regularly interact with District Election Officers (DEOs) for coordination and monitoring and visit the field for critical feedback to ensure necessary course corrections. While Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey stressed upon Training and capacity building of Booth Level Officers ( BLOs) as effectiveness of ECI’s activities depends upon the effective implementation by field level election officials. He emphasised that CEOs need to ensure that correct information and facts are regularly shared with local media for enhanced outreach. A one-day review meeting with all the poll going states is also scheduled at the EC on Tuesday to discuss various matters related to election management, the poll panel added.