Shailendra discusses election preparations with DEOs through Video Conferencing

Jammu: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Shailendra Kumar Tuesday interacted with all the District Election Officers (Deputy Commissioners) through Video Conferencing (VC) and discussed the election management action plans for the forthcoming Elections in the State after the last date of disposal of claims and objections under SSR-2019.
During the marathon discussions, the CEO obtained detailed feedback from each district regarding the steps initiated and their requirements for the smooth conduct of elections. The issues that prominently figured and were discussed in the VC included, functioning of District Contact Centers (DCCs), creation of necessary infrastructure for the polling stations, status of polling stations, facilities of webcasting in the polling stations, requirement and movement of EVMs, progress under SVEEP program, communication plan, transport facilities for the polling parties, security management, celebration of National Voter’s Day, appointment of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) by various political parties, publication of electoral rolls, imparting of training to the polling staff and several other allied issues related to the election process.
The CEO called upon all the DEOs to put in place all the necessary arrangements well in time to facilitate smooth election in the State. He laid stress on strengthening the DCCs with trained manpower and dedicated communication network to facilitate the citizens with their election related queries and complaints. The CEO also directed the DEOs to hold frequent interactions with the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to sensitize them of their role and to get feedback on election related activities. He also directed for addressing their critical issues on priority and equipping them appropriately so that they can perform their duties more efficiently.
Shailendra asked the DEOs to approach the political parties of their areas to appoint their BLAs expeditiously to facilitate and coordinate with the election authorities in the electoral process. He said BLAs function as a bridge between the election authorities and political parties and help in election process. He also called for attending the election related issues/complaints of the political parties on priority.
Lauding the performance of DEOs for updation of electoral rolls during Special Summery Revision, the CEO said all the DEOs have shown keen interest in this important process and completed the exercise in a time-bound manner. During the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SSR) of Photo Electoral Roll, w.r.t 01-01-2019 as the qualifying date, 307984 new voters were added which is highest as compared to the last four years additions. Besides,125931 voters were deleted from the Roll and 94659 corrections/modifications were made in the particulars of electors. In addition to it 9,23,654 demographically similar entries were also removed from the rolls and 1687 logical errors were corrected in the ongoing SSR-2019. To maintain the correctness of the rolls, the multiple entries, duplicates, dead and permanently shifted entries were also removed from the roll.
The DEOs briefed the CEO about the preparations and steps initiated for the ensuing Elections. They put forth their requirements like filling up of vacant positions in the districts, resources for creation of election related infrastructure and also sought clarifications on various issues, which were addressed by the CEO.
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Verma, Joint CEO, Raman Kumar Kesar, Additional Secretary (Election), Krishan Lal, Deputy CEO, Anil Salgotra, Deputy Director Information, Babu Ram Tandon and other functionaries of the election department were also present in the meeting.