The seventh batch of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Supervisors was imparted comprehensive training at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi in the last week of May in view of the upcoming Assembly elections later this year and next year.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India Gyanesh Kumar addressed the participants of the training programme, including BLOs, BLO Supervisors, and Electoral Registration Officers from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. A total of 353 grassroots election officials (101 from Uttar Pradesh, 82 from Uttarakhand, 83 from Rajasthan, and 84 from Himachal Pradesh) were part of the comprehensive training programme.
With this, over 3,350 field officials have been trained in the past two months by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
In his inaugural address, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said that these training programmes were essential to ensure that elections are conducted strictly in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, and instructions issued by the ECI from time to time.
The CEC also underlined that the participants, through the training, must familiarise themselves with the provisions of the first and second appeals against the final electoral rolls as published with the District Magistrates, District Collectors and Executive Magistrates under Section 24 (a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state/Union Territory under Section 24 (b), respectively. He also encouraged the BLOs and BLO Supervisors to make the electors too aware of these provisions during their interactions.
It may be recalled that no appeals were filed from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh after the completion of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) exercise as of January 6-10, 2025.
The training is designed to enhance participants’ practical understanding especially in the areas of voter registration, form handling, and field-level implementation of electoral procedures. Participants also received practical training regarding IT tools. The officials were provided technical demonstrations and training for handling and operating electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs), including through mock polls.
