NEW DELHI: Within days of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar taking over as the head of the poll panel, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced that it was going to organise a two-day conference of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of States and Union Territories (UTs) beginning March 4 here.
The officials said that the event will take place at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management in New Delhi, where for the first time the CEOs have been directed to nominate a DEO and an ERO to take part in the conference.
As per the election laws, the CEOs, DEOs and EROs are important functionaries at the State, District and Assembly Constituency levels during polls and they will get an opportunity to brainstorm and mutually learn from each other’s experiences.
According to a senior ECI official, on the Day 1 of the Conference, participants “will discuss key areas of modern election management, including IT architecture, effective communication, enhancing social media outreach and the statutory role of different functionaries” in the electoral processes. And, on the second day, the CEOs of States and UTs will present their respective action plans on thematic discussions of the previous day, he added.
On February 19, CEC Gyanesh Kumar assumed charge and in his message to the voters, he said that the first step for nation-building was voting. He went on to assert that in accordance with the Constitution, the electoral laws and rules issued therein, the Election Commission has always stood with the voters.
“The first step for nation-building is voting. Therefore, every citizen of India who has completed 18 years of age should become an elector and should always vote. In accordance with the Constitution of India, electoral laws, rules and instructions issued therein, the Election Commission of India was, is and will always be with the voters,” Kumar had said while talking to the media on the day he assumed charge of the office.
Gyanesh Kumar is a 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre and is senior to the two other commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, an IAS officer from the Uttarakhand cadre and Vivek Joshi, a Haryana cadre IAS officer.