Bihar Polls: 17 New Initiatives to be Implemented across the Country

NEW DELHI, Oct 6: The Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announcing the dates for the Bihar Assembly elections on Monday said the polls, which come right after a contentious “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) of the electoral rolls, would show the rest of the country the path towards the purification of voter rolls.

Following are the 17 new initiatives by the poll body that will be implemented across the country: 

1. Training of booth level agents– BLAs (Appointed by political parties) were trained in various aspects of supporting the process of preparing electoral rolls including the use of appeals provision under RP Act 1950
2. Training of booth level officers– Over 7,000 BLOs and BLO supervisors from across India including Bihar trained at IIIDEM, New Delhi
3. Training of police officers– Special sessions conducted for Bihar Police to reinforce law-and-order preparedness during elections
4. Special Intensive Revision in Bihar– Purification of electoral roll in Bihar to ensure no eligible elector is left out and no ineligible person is included
5. Enhanced Remuneration for officials– Renumeration doubled for BLOs, enhanced for BLO Supervisors and for polling/counting staff, CAPF, monitoring teams and micro-observers. Honorarium provided for EROs and AEROs for the first time. Provision for refreshments also enhanced
6. Free delivery of EPIC– New SOP to ensure EPIC delivery within 15 days of an update in electoral roll with SMS notification at each stage of delivery
7. Photo ID Cards for BLOs– Standard identity cards issued to BLOs to enhance field level transparency and public trust
8. Mobile Deposit Facility at Polling Stations– Counters introduced just outside polling stations for depositing mobile phones by voters
9. Clearer Voter Information Slip (VIS)– Serial and part numbers displayed prominently for easier verification of voters
10. One-stop Digital Platform– Many important services on ECINet App including, near real-time voter turnout updates – Presiding officers to now upload turnout data on ECINET app every two hours on polling day in order to reduce the time lag in the updating of the approximate polling trends
11. Polling Station Limit of 1,200 voters– Ensures reduced crowding, shorter queues, and additional booths in high-rise residential complexes and societies
12. Candidate booths allowed just outside 100 metres of Polling Station– Booths by the candidates on poll day for issuing unofficial identity slips to electors can be set up just beyond 100 metres of any polling station
13. 100% Webcasting at Polling Stations– Monitoring to ensure that critical activities take place smoothly without any violation of the poll process
14. EVM Ballot Paper Guidelines Revised– ECI revises guidelines to make EVM ballot papers more readable, EVMs to have colour photographs of candidates for  the first time
15. Mandatory VVPAT count for mismatches– VVPAT slip counting in each and every case of mismatch between Form 17C and EVM data and wherever mock poll data was not erased erroneously
16. Streamlining Counting of Postal Ballots– Penultimate (second last) round of EVM/VVPATs counting shall be taken up only after the counting of postal ballot papers
17. Digital Index Cards and Reports– Technology-driven system to promote accessibility of election-related data at the constituency level for all stakeholders.

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