Kickstarting preparations for the general election to be held this year, the Election Commission on January 11 held a brainstorming session with the Chief Electoral Officers of all States on various issues, including electronic voting machines, electoral rolls and expenditure monitoring.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar asked all State CEOs to deliver a “spotless” election even as he complimented the officials in the States where Assembly elections were held recently.
Mr. Kumar, in his address at the conference held here, said “a solid set of preparations” is in place for the upcoming election.
Two-day conference
The two-day conference is being held to share experiences and learnings from the recently held Assembly elections, along with thematic discussions on election planning, expenditure monitoring, electoral rolls, IT applications, data management and EVMs, the EC said in a statement.
The CEOs of the poll-gone States gave detailed presentations about their experiences, learnings and innovative practices they adopted during the recently held Assembly elections, while the CEOs from the other States presented their status of preparation for the conduct of elections.
Other senior officers from the commission were also present during the conference.
Earlier, a similar exercise had been held with the EC officials and State CEOs at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie, along with five regional conferences at Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Chennai and Lucknow in the last few weeks.
Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey said the conference provided a platform for cross-fertilisation of ideas where participants gain to learn from each other about challenges, solutions and their best practices in election management. He noted that the conference was a culmination of the exercise that started with various conferences, workshops and trainings organised over the past six months as part of preparations for the 2024 election.
Election Commissioner Arun Goel described the CEOs as the “commanding officers” of the 10-million strong team collectively.
The EC also launched a redesigned website for enhanced user experience and easy access to information for all stakeholders.
