Hyderabad: Ahead of the general election 2024, the Election Commission of India (ECI) organized a conference with the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all states/UTs at India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi.
The two-day conference from January 11–12 was held to share experiences and learnings from recently held state assembly elections in 2023 along with thematic discussions on election planning, expenditure, monitoring, electoral roll, IT applications, data management, EVM/VVPAT, SVEEP strategy, media and communication, a press release informed.
Lokesh Kumar, Additional CEO, and Sarfaraz Ahmed, Joint CEO attended the conference and made a presentation at the CEOs conference sharing the ‘best practices’ implemented in the recently concluded elections to Telangana Assembly.
Officials said that the presentation focused on the conduct of weekly meetings with political parties at the ERO level, enrollment of young voters (18-19 age group), the gender ratio of roll improved to 1000.20 from 972 during 2018, purification of roll: correction of electoral details, recertification of PSE deletions, conversion of nonstandard EPIC to standard and printing and distribution of new EPIC cards, coordinated efforts to curtail expenditure, C vigil, Suvidha portal, arrangement of 100% webcasting in urban areas etc.
The chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar complimented CEOs of states, where polls were conducted successfully in free, participating, peaceful, and inducement-free elections.
Kumar said that a solid set of preparations is in place for the parliamentary elections, in 2024. He stressed that the road to the elections “is a journey of duty and resolve and expressed confidence in the res with all necessary interventions to provide the best possible electro experience to all stakeholders, lifting the largest democracy in the world.”
He further stated that the trust of the upcoming elections would be to ensure the best possible experience for the voters.
Kumar said that the conference would provide an opportunity for all CEOs to learn from each other’s experiences and challenges.
