Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra stressed on the significance of the purity of the electoral roll

Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of five states where elections will be due soon have been asked to expedite the redressal of all pending applications with regard to voter registration.

Addressing the CEOs of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand on Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said election planning needs to have "a voter-centric approach and participative decision making involving all stakeholders".

Speaking at a review meeting on advance planning for forthcoming elections, Chandra stressed on the significance of the purity of the electoral roll. He added that transparency and impartiality were the hallmark of the election process.

According to the Election Commission, the preliminary meeting 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 CEC emphasized on the need for rationalization of polling stations keeping in view the COVID 19 pandemic and reiterated the need to have basic facilities& infrastructure in all polling stations.

Referring to the postal ballot facility to senior citizens (80+) and persons with disabilities, the CEC said that all logistical challenges in implementation need to be identified & resolved for its smooth & transparent implementation during the elections.

He also said that states should learn and adopt innovations and best practices in election management from the poll gone states or other States/UTs.

Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey highlighted the need to activate the ground level election machinery in the five states to start the preparations for the forthcoming elections.

CEOs should focus on filling up infrastructure gaps & logistics requirement, updation & purification of electoral rolls and an extensive voter education and empowerment outreach program, he added.