Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj stated that the Election Commission is focusing on new young voters who will turn 18 in the next year in order to expand the voter base.
On Tuesday, Vikas Raj met with representatives from the BJP, TDP, Congress, CPI (M), and MIM parties to brief them on the various steps being taken by the EC to ensure free and fair elections.
He stated that continuous electoral and democracy education was being implemented to improve the quality of electoral participation in terms of informed and ethical voting. He said that the EC informed him that there were currently 4 lakh pending forms, including Forms 6, 7, and 8, and that they needed to be cleared.
The CEO also briefed the political parties on the various activities of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and the importance of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) in ensuring fair and transparent elections.
He said that instructions on safeguards against deletions, including photo similar entries, and the need for vigilance against logical errors detected at the data entry level, had been issued to EROs.
He urged political party leaders to increase the number of BLAs, citing the fact that the state had only 1785 BLAs compared to 34,891 polling stations.
The Election Commission had launched a special initiative to encourage transgender people and other marginalized groups, such as tribals, to vote, he said.
The representatives of the political parties requested that the CEO provide more information on the EC’s IT initiatives, as well as organize workshops to raise awareness about their roles and responsibilities in light of the latest instructions and the upcoming general elections.
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