Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat reviews election preparedness

Rawat and other officials reviewed poll preparedness and district election plans
Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat, Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa, Sunil Arora inaugurate demo vehicles, in Hyderabad on Tuesday | Sathya Keerthi
Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat, Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa, Sunil Arora inaugurate demo vehicles, in Hyderabad on Tuesday | Sathya Keerthi

HYDERABAD: Ahead of the Assembly polls on December 7, a high-level team led by the Chief Election Commissioner of India Om Prakash Rawat visited the city and held meetings with top officials, including the District Election Officers (DEOs), Superintendent of Police (SPs), DIG and IGs of Telangana, to assess the poll preparedness in the State. Tuesday was their second of visit. 

Rawat and other officials reviewed poll preparedness and district election plans. They expressed satisfaction with progress in preparations and advised officials concerned to “work really hard” to make the first election in India’s youngest State a free and fair process. 

Improving accessibility for voters, especially persons with disabilities, stopping the flow of cash and liquor and improving security measures were some of the points that were stressed upon. Yesterday, the ECI team held a meeting with the recognised political parties in the State. Each party was given time to represent their issues regarding preparations for elections.
Rawat also flagged off modernised mobile vans equipped with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs). These vans will travel across the State and educate the voters on how to use the machines by conducting mock sessions. He alsoreleased the Voter Accessibility App for the Differently Abled. 

Rawat, Chief Secretary SK Joshi and other officials of the poll panel held interactions with persons with disabilities regarding facilities that need to be provided to ensure the entire electoral process is accessible to one and all. GHMC Commissioner M Dana Kishore explained the features of the VAADA app to participants. He said that Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation will be intensified to create voter awareness among the people on the importance of voting with the help of SVEEP activities. 
Braille Cards

Accessible Elections is the theme for polls this year and to mark this the poll panel, on Tuesday, introduced voter identity cards with Braille label. These cards were distributed to six visually disabled voters. Voters with visual disability will get their cards, voter slips and other materials in Braille.
CEO Rajat Kumar informed that said that Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) data has been collected from Sadarem certificates and 4,12,098 PwD voters have been flagged in the electoral rolls part-wise. 

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