CEC Kumar asks CEOs of states to deliver 'spotless' LS polls due in March-April

As part of preparations for the 2024 parliamentary elections, a brainstorming session on various themes was organised with the EC officials and state CEOs.

PTI, New Delhi, Jan 11, 2024 :  Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Thursday asked the state chief electoral officers to deliver a “spotless” Lok Sabha polls due in March-April.

Addressing a conference of CEOs here ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, he also said “a solid set of preparations” is in place for the democratic exercise.

Kumar stressed that the road to the elections is a journey of duty and resolve and expressed confidence in the readiness with all necessary interventions to provide the best possible electoral experience to all stakeholders, befitting the largest democracy of the world.

The two-day conference is being held to share experiences and learnings from recently-held assembly elections, along with thematic discussions on election planning, expenditure monitoring, electoral roll, IT applications, data management and EVMs.

Kumar said the thrust of the upcoming elections would be to ensure the best possible experience for the voters. Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey said the conference is a culmination of the exercise that started with various conferences, workshops, trainings, seminars organised in the past six months as part of preparations for 2024 elections.

It provides a platform for cross-fertilisation of ideas where participants gain to learn from each other about challenges, solutions and their best practices in election management.

Election Commissioner Arun Goel said the gathering provides a platform for team building ahead of the mammoth task of conducting elections this year.

Borrowing from the military parlance, he described the CEOs as the commanding officers of the 10 million strong team collectively. Goel, the EC said, urged all participants to freely share and discuss their ideas and challenges.

Chief electoral officers of states where elections were held recently gave detailed presentations about their experiences, learnings and innovative practices they adopted during the polls.

As part of preparations for the 2024 parliamentary elections, a brainstorming session on various themes was organised with the EC officials and state CEOs at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie earlier.

Five regional conferences were also held at Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Chennai and Lucknow over the past few weeks. Over 800 district electoral officers and returning officers across the country were trained on various thematic areas related to Election Management at IIIDEM here.

India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management is the training arm of EC. Review of poll-preparedness by the Commission has been initiated with Andhra Pradesh as the first state.