Guwahati: Senior Election Commission (EC) officials have held a meeting with the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) and police officers of eight northeastern states and West Bengal here and reviewed the status of ongoing special summary revision (SSR) of electoral rolls and preparedness for next year’s Lok Sabha elections, an official said on Tuesday.
Tripura Chief Electoral Officer Puneet Agarwal said that in the day-long meeting on Monday, senior EC officials sought the views of CEOs and police officers.
“Senior EC officials also gave their advice and suggestions to the CEOs and nodal officers about the subsequent steps and necessary formalities ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” Agarwal told IANS.
The EC team comprised senior deputy election commissioners Dharmendra Sharma and Nitesh Kumar Vyas, deputy election commissioner Hirdesh Kumar, Director General Neeta Verma and directors Pankaj Srivastava and Deepali Masirkar.
Chief electoral officers and state police nodal officers of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Sikkim and West Bengal gave detailed presentations on the ongoing process of the SSR of the of electoral rolls and planning and preparations for next 18th Lok Sabha elections.
Another election official in Guwahati said that in regard to preparations for the next parliamentary polls, the EC officials apprised about the possible steps on the law and order situation, voter enrolment efforts, assured minimum facilities at polling stations, other polling infrastructure besides manpower requirement in the nine states.
The EC team directed all CEOs to ensure preparation of error free and inclusive electoral rolls during the ongoing SSR, involvement of all stakeholder, including political parties, enhancement of various roll indices, enrolment of all first-time eligible voters, removal of deceased and duplicate voters, special focus on enrolment of particularly vulnerable tribal groups, transgender, sex workers, scheduled caste/scheduled tribes, persons with disabilities, citizens over 80 years of age and other identified vulnerable groups.
Stressing on the optimum use of the various IT applications, the ECO officials asked the states’ police nodal officers to take time-bound initiatives ahead of time and act upon on priority basis to ensure free, fair, transparent and safe polls. The meeting in Guwahati was the third regional conference-cum-review meeting on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls covering nine states.
The previous two sessions were held in Chandigarh and Chennai on October 31 and November 9, respectively, covering 16 states and Union Territories.
(IANS)
