EC to hold poll meet in November end

SHILLONG: The Election Commission of India officials will visit Meghalaya in November end to assess the state’s poll preparedness.
Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Kharkongor, who attended the meeting with the Election Commission in Delhi on Monday, said a preliminary field visit by election officials and a meeting by the full team will be carried out in November end in all the three poll-bound northeastern states.
In Delhi, the election panel held a review meeting with the chief electoral officers of Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland.
According to Kharkongor, the key focus of the review revolved around poll management with specific regard to EVM, VVPAT and IT-related aspects to be rolled out for the first time in the forthcoming polls.
Availability of EVMs and VVPATs in sufficient numbers was also reviewed during the meeting.
“For any additional requirement, ECI will arrange the same from states where elections were conducted and manufacturers concerned taking into account the numbers required for training and awareness purposes, reserves and for use in the actual conduct of the polls,” he said.
Kharkongor said IT applications of ECI, which include Sugam for vehicle permission, Suvidha for various permissions and Samadhan for public grievances and model code related applications were also discussed.
The meeting decided to hold a one-day video conferencing with chief electoral officers, district electoral officers and returning officers of all the three northeastern states early next week for a preliminary overview of the IT applications followed by an intensive training to be coordinated by the IT division of ECI in all the three state capitals.