ECI launches 23 new reforms to strengthen electoral process

Vijayawada: In a move to bolster the electoral process, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has rolled out 23 new initiatives spanning six key areas — electors, political parties, election staff, legal stakeholders, procedural reforms, and internal enhancements within the commission.

During an informal briefing in Velagapudi on Friday, P Pawan, deputy director (media division), said the ECI introduced a first-of-its-kind mobile deposit facility at polling booths. This service, aimed at easing the voting experience, was piloted during the recently held bye-elections for five assembly seats across four states.

Among other initiatives, the ECI has increased the number of polling stations and capped the maximum number of voters per station at 1,200. To improve accessibility, additional booths are now being established in high-rise buildings and residential colonies to encourage greater voter participation.

Elaborating more about the initiatives for political parties, Pawan mentioned that the ECI successfully conducted capacity-building programmes for booth level agents of political parties of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry states at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM). Subsequently, the canvassing norms in terms of distance were reduced to 100 metres from the entrance of polling stations. Moreover, the ECI held Pan India all-party meetings at the CEO/DEO/ERO levels.

"A total of 4,719 meetings, including 40 meetings at the CEO level, 800 at DEO, and 3,879 at ERO levels, were held with over 28,000 representatives from various political parties participating in the meetings," the ECI deputy director added.

Drawing attention to the procedural reforms, the ECI official said to resolve the bogus voters issue, the ECI introduced a new mechanism for unique EPIC numbers. Also, the full-fledged digitisation and upgradation of the voter turnout rate (VTR), index card, and statistical reports publishing process for faster dissemination of VTR trends and other electoral data was taken up by the ECI.

Furthermore, over one lakh booth level officers (BLOs) and supervisors would be trained in the next few years, with training for 3,000 booth level supervisors completed at IIIDEM, New Delhi. In addition, the BLOs will be given a standard photo ID card, the ECI official added.