Chhattisgarh Chief Electoral Officer Subrat Sahoo shared his experience of successful holding of incident-free and peaceful 2018 assembly elections with educationists, students and young entrepreneurs at Harvard University, Massachusetts during the two-day 16th Annual India Conference on current issues related to India.
Sahoo was speaking at the session on ‘A Billion Votes: How India Manages Its Election’ sharing dais with former chief election commissioner O P Rawat and Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev.
Sahoo, addressing the gathering, shared the administrative arrangements, planning, innovative and technological steps along with experience of implementing them to conduct the election.
Underlying the challenging situation and gallant works of polling teams and administration for holding polls in Naxal-affected Bastar, Sahoo citing examples explained the finer points of election process and intensified arrangement made in the region. He also shared how based on prevailing conditions on the ground, quick decisions were taken by polling teams and security forces. The awareness programmes to ensure maximum participation of voters built confidence in remote tribal dominated areas. This is the victory of democracy, he added.
Sahoo pointed out, in the last election where zero polling was registered, this time good polling was recorded due to which no violence or untoward incident was reported. For the first time in its electoral history of the state, no re-polling was held during the 2018 assembly elections.