ECI strengthens field readiness with 2 day training for electoral officers at IIIDEM

JAMMU, APRIL 30: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, Gyanesh Kumar, today inaugurated a two day capacity building training programme for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) from Bihar and EROs and BLO Supervisors from Haryana, NCT of Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi.

The training programme is part of the Election Commission of India’s ongoing preparations for the upcoming General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies. A total of 369 grassroots election officials are taking part in this mixed-batch training programme.

In his inaugural address, the CEC said that the BLOs and EROs along with the Booth Level Agents (BLAs) are responsible for ensuring correct and updated electoral rolls and they are to function strictly as per the Representation of People Act 1950, Registration of Electors Rules 1960 and instructions issued by the ECI from time to time. Earlier this month, around 280 BLAs of 10 recognised political parties from Bihar were also trained at IIIDEM.

The training has been designed to enhance participants’ practical understanding especially in the areas of voter registration, form handling and field level implementation of electoral procedures. The officials will be provided technical demonstrations and training of EVMs and VVPATs. They will also be familiarised with the provisions of first and second appeals against the final electoral rolls as published with the DM/District Collector/Executive Magistrate under section 24(a) of RP Act 1950 and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the State/UT under section 24(b) respectively. It may be recalled that no appeals were filed from Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi after completion of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) exercise as of 6th-10th of January 2025.

The curriculum included interactive sessions, role plays simulating house-to-house surveys, case studies and hands-on exercises for filling Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8. Additionally, the participants will receive practical training on the Voter Helpline App (VHA) and the BLO App.

Likewise, the sessions are being conducted by the experienced National Level Master Trainers (NLMTs) and expert Resource Persons from the IT and EVM Divisions of the Commission. The sessions are interactive and will address common field-level errors besides explaining how to avoid them.