‘10,50,000 booths, 1,00,000 officers’: CEC Gyanesh Kumar reveals behind-the-scenes efforts of elections in India

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday revealed that conducting an election in India requires 10,50,000 booths and 1,00,000 booth-level officers.

Gyanesh Kumar was present at the inauguration of the first training session for booth-level officers, organised by the Election Commission at the India International Institute of Democracy & Election Management (IIIDEM) in New Delhi.

“India's election is the biggest in the world. To conduct this election, the Election Commission sets up 10,50,000 booths,” he said, adding that at every polling booth, a booth-level officer assists in preparing the electoral roll and visits households to verify names.

Kumar said that the EC has organised a training programme for the first time. “In this training, we will train 1,00,000 booth-level officers,” ANI quoted Gyanesh Kumar as saying.

Gyanesh said the “state governments should nominate SDM-level or equivalent officers as EROs, who then should appoint BLOs giving due consideration to their seniority and who are ordinary residents of the polling station under their charge.”

‘Training for over 1 lakh Booth level officers’

Meanwhile, an official statement issued by the EC said more than 1 lakh BLOs, with an average of one BLO per 10 polling stations, will be trained in such training programmes in the upcoming years. They will constitute a corps of Assembly Level Master Trainers (ALMTs) to bolster the entire network of BLOs in the country, who are the first and most crucial interface between the 100 Crore electors and the Commission.

It added there are109 BLOs from Bihar, Assam and West Bengal who are taking part in this 2-day residential training programme besides 24 EROs and 13 DEOs from Bihar, Assam and West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. Gyanesh highlighted, according to Article 326 of the Constitution and Section 20 of the RP Act 1950, that only citizens of India above 18 years of age and ordinarily resident in the constituency can be officially considered electors.

“The training is planned to familiarise the BLOs with their roles and responsibilities as per the RP Act 1950, the Registration of Elector Rules 1960 and instructions of the Commission issued from time to time and to equip them with requirements of filling relevant forms for an error-free updation of electoral rolls. They will be familiarised with IT applications designed to support their work,” the release added.

Gyanesh's direction on electoral roll, addressing complaints

Gyanesh ordered all CEOs, DEOs, and EROs to conduct all-party meetings at their respective levels and tackle any concerns relating to their area of jurisdiction, which includes correct updation of electoral rolls. He also warned that any complaint against an ERO or BLO will be taken seriously. He mentioned that all BLOs should be respectful while conversing with the electors during house-to-house verification to update electoral rolls.