New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) Monday announced 17 new initiatives that will be unrolled out during the Bihar Assembly polls, including compulsory webcasting and mobile phone-deposit facilities at all polling stations.
At a press conference here, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announced the “Bihar First Initiatives”, which will be unrolled at all stages — from preparing for the polls to the counting of the votes. These initiatives will be launched in all states during subsequent elections, he said.
For the first time, counters will be available outside all polling stations for voters to deposit their mobile phones. The number of electors per polling station has also been limited to 1,200 to avoid crowding.
The poll panel will issue voter-information slips with serial and part numbers (details of the polling station) displayed prominently for easier verification of voters.
A one-stop digital platform — ECINet — will provide real-time voter turnout updates, and the presiding officers will upload the turnout data on the app every two hours on the polling day to reduce the time lag.
There will be 100 per cent webcasting at all polling stations, and candidate booths will be allowed just outside 100 metres of the polling stations.
The EC has also revised the guidelines to make EVM ballot papers more readable, and the electronic voting machines will have colour photographs of the candidates for the first time.
The counting of VVPAT (voter-verifiable paper audit trail) slips will be mandatory in case of a mismatch between the form 17C and the EVM data, and wherever the mock poll data was not erased erroneously.
The penultimate round of EVM/VVPAT counting will be taken up only after the counting of the postal ballots, the CEC said.
A technology-driven system to promote accessibility of election-related data at the constituency level for all stakeholders will also be available, with the EC introducing digital index cards and reports.
In the preparatory stage, the poll panel held training for the booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties. They were trained in various aspects of supporting the process of preparing the electoral rolls, including the use of the appeals provision under the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
More than 7,000 booth-level officers (BLOs) and BLO supervisors from across the country, including Bihar, were trained at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi. Besides, special sessions were conducted for the Bihar Police for preparedness during the election.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which was undertaken in the state for the “purification” of the electoral rolls, was listed among the “Bihar First Initiatives”. The poll panel also mentioned the remunerations for officials — BLOs, supervisors and polling and counting staff, the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), monitoring teams and micro-observers. Honorarium will be provided for the EROs and AEROs for the first time, and the provisions for refreshments have also been enhanced.
Bihar will go to polls in two phases — November 6 and 11 — and the counting of votes will be taken up November 14.
