ECI Begins Training of 373 Grassroots Election Functionaries from Four States
Panaji: The Election Commission of India (ECI) today commenced the eighth batch of training for Booth Level Officer (BLO) Supervisors at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) in New Delhi. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Shri Gyanesh Kumar inaugurated the session, addressing 373 participants from Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh—marking the largest training batch to date at IIIDEM.
The participants include BLOs, BLO Supervisors, and Electoral Registration Officers, with 118 from Uttar Pradesh, 130 from Madhya Pradesh, 96 from Chhattisgarh, and 29 from Haryana. With this batch, the ECI has trained over 3,720 field-level election officials in the past two months.
In his address, CEC Shri Gyanesh Kumar emphasized the critical role of such training in ensuring free, fair, and transparent elections, conducted in strict accordance with the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951, as well as the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
He also highlighted the importance of familiarizing officials with the provisions related to the first and second appeals under Section 24 of the RP Act, 1950—before the District Magistrate/Executive Magistrate and the Chief Electoral Officer respectively. Shri Kumar urged BLOs and their supervisors to educate voters about these legal remedies during field-level verifications.
It is noteworthy that following the Special Summary Revision (SSR) conducted from January 6–10, 2025, no appeals were filed from the four states participating in the current training.
The programme focuses on strengthening practical knowledge of voter registration processes, handling electoral forms, and implementing election procedures on the ground. Officials will also be trained in using various IT tools, and will receive hands-on demonstrations and training with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs), and mock polls.
