Ahead of the Assembly polls, the Election Commission on Wednesday held a review meeting with chief electoral officers of the five States to take stock of preparations. The Chief Electoral Officers from Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand gave a detailed presentation on various aspects of the conduct of election including the health of electoral roll, availability of budget, manpower resources, SVEEP, planning, polling station arrangements and IT applications.
The terms of the legislative assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand are coming to an end in March 2022, while the term of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly is scheduled to end in May.
“The preliminary meeting held was focussed on various thematic issues including Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) at the polling stations, ease of registration arrangements for voter facilitation, electoral roll, timely resolution of grievances, arrangements of EVMs/VVPATs, postal ballot facility for senior citizens (80+) and PwDs, COVID Mitigation plan, training of polling staff and extensive voter outreach amongst others,” the EC said in a statement.
Reviewing the polls preparations, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra stressed the significance of the purity of the electoral roll and asked the CEOs for expeditious redressal of all pending applications with regard to voter registration. He also emphasized the need for rationalization of polling stations keeping in view the COVID 19 pandemic and reiterated the need to have basic facilities and infrastructure in all polling stations.
Chandra mentioned that all logistical challenges in the implementation of postal ballot facilities to senior citizens (80+) and persons with disabilities need to be identified & resolved for its smooth & transparent implementation during the elections.