New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a two-day capacity building programme for 379 Booth Level Officer (BLO) Supervisors at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi. This marks the 13th batch of the nationwide training initiative aimed at strengthening field-level electoral processes.
The programme was inaugurated today by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Shri Gyanesh Kumar, who addressed the assembled officers representing Uttar Pradesh (111), Madhya Pradesh (128), Nagaland (67), Meghalaya (66) and Chandigarh (7).
In his keynote speech, CEC Gyanesh Kumar emphasized the critical role of BLOs in ensuring transparent and lawful elections. “There can be nothing more transparent than law in any democracy,” he said, highlighting that all electoral procedures must adhere strictly to the Representation of the People Acts, 1950 and 1951, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, along with ECI’s updated guidelines.
The CEC also shed light on the appeals mechanism related to the electoral rolls under Section 24(a) and 24(b) of the RP Act, 1950, and encouraged BLOs to inform citizens of their right to appeal before DMs or CEOs in case of discrepancies.
Significantly, no appeals were recorded during the Special Summary Revision (SSR) conducted between January 6th and 10th, 2025, in the participating states and union territory—indicating improved accuracy and public satisfaction with the voter roll process.
The training programme aims to build practical competencies in areas such as voter registration, form handling, and field-level procedures. Participants are also being trained in IT tools, and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) through technical demonstrations and mock polls.
Over 5,000 BLOs and Supervisors have already been trained by ECI at IIIDEM in the last three months, making this a major national push toward electoral excellence ahead of upcoming elections.
