Shailendra calls for stepping up voters’ awareness campaign

Jammu: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, Shailendra Kumar Monday reviewed the progress on the issues related to the preparations for the ensuing elections, here at a meeting of concerned officers .
The CEO called upon the officers and other functionaries of Election Department to gear up to take all necessary and timely steps to ensure smooth conduct of election process. He directed the officers to chalk out a well-knit strategy to handle the election related issues on priority and ensure close coordination with District Election Officers (Deputy Commissioners) and all other stakeholders.
The CEO reviewed in detail, the status of establishment of District Contact Centres (DCCs) across the state and called for making them fully operational at the earliest.
It was informed that each DEO will have a ‘Voter Helpline facility’ to facilitate the citizens/voters by dialling “1950” from any location.
“Any subscriber dialling from the district will have him/her connected to the respective DCC. For dialling a DCC from a place outside the jurisdiction of that district a user has to just prefix the STD code of the concerned DCC” the meeting was told.
The meeting was informed that the DCCs shall be IFSC (Information, Feedback, Suggestions and Compliant) management platforms for the citizens. A citizen can dial ‘1950’ to – Know about Electoral Registration Status, Check his/her Form Status, Find his/her polling station and assembly constituency, Know about his/her Electoral Officers, Know about Elections, Lodge his/her Grievance, Know about EVM, etc. Along with ‘1950’ citizens/voters can also log on to NVSP (National Voter Services Portal) www.nvsp.in for all the information related to his electoral status including registration of new voters, the meeting was told.
The CEO directed for stepping up a state-wide campaign highlighting the importance of vote, through various means like print media/electronic media, social media, cultural programs, nukkad shows for the awareness of voters and to ensure their maximum participation in the election process. He also called for active involvement of social, political organizations and NGOs in the campaign.
Further, Shailendra observed that most of the registered political parties have not appointed/nominated their Booth Level Agents (BLAs), which is an important tool to facilitate the election authorities in the election process and act as a bridge between the election authorities and the electors/public. He called for issuing advisories through all Deputy Commissioners to the political parties to appoint BLA at the earliest.
Joint CEO, Raman Kumar Kesar, Additional Secretary (Election) Krishan Lal, Deputy CEO Anil Salgotra and other officers of the election department were present in the meeting.