नवीनतम
CEC calls BLOs backbone of India's electoral democracy
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Amid ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in nine states and three Union Territories (UTs), Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday commended the Booth Level Officers (BLOs), calling them the "foundational pillar" for electoral democracy in India.
CEC Kumar stated that the responsibility of electors as well as ensuring that all eligible electors are included in the electoral roll is vested with the BLOs.
Notably, more than 5.32 lakh BLOs have been engaged in the ongoing SIR exercise in the second phase, aimed at purification of electoral rolls.
In his inaugural address at the three-day India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM), being organised by the Election Commission of India (ECI) at Bharat Mandapam, the CEC called India the "mother of democracy".
"Each polling booth in India roughly has around 970 electors. The responsibility of the electors and ensuring that all eligible electors are included in the electoral roll is vested with the BLOs. The BLO is the foundation and foundational pillar of electoral democracy in India," CEC Kumar said.
Citing the Constitution, the poll body chief said, "Indian elections, as our Constitution says, have been divided into two broad segments. One is the preparation of electoral rolls and two is the conduct of elections."
"A pure electoral roll, including each and every eligible elector as per law, is essential for strengthening democracy," he said, adding that all elections are being held on the basis of that electoral roll.
Referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kumar recalled how Indian elections became one of the largest electoral exercises on the planet year after year in terms of logistics, numbers, and transparency.
"In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, more than 640 million exercised their franchise. There were more than a million polling stations and roughly two crore people involved in this exercise. This is a feat," he remarked.
The CEC also referred to the 2025 Assembly elections in Bihar and said, "Bihar went for Assembly elections a few months back. The first step was the purification of electoral rolls, including eligible electors; that stage got completed. Under electoral law, there is a provision for the elector of any Assembly segment to file an appeal so that no wrong name gets included and no right name gets excluded."
He said that with the efficiency of the BLOs, Electoral Registration Officers and the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), out of 75 million electors, the number of appeals was 'zero'.
"Amid tight public scrutiny, and under the watch of all citizens in Bihar and across the country, the electoral roll was finalised and then elections were held. There was zero re-polling. That was the level of efficiency retained by our officers," Kumar said.
Talking about the ECI conference, the CEC said, "We are here to understand the future path, challenges, and expectations of the electors and how to make this process much smoother, transparent, free and fair."
"We are also working on bringing an atlas of democracy in the world. The draft is almost ready; it will be shared with the member states (international delegation) for corrections and additions, if necessary. It will come out as a synopsis of electoral processes and how democracy functions," he added.
Describing the faith placed by citizens in the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) as precious, Election Commissioner (EC) Sukhbir Singh Sandhu said, "At the heart of every election is a citizen, believing that their choice will be respected and it is the collective responsibility of EMBs to protect it."
In his address, EC Vivek Joshi said that IICDEM brings together EMBs, researchers, students and practitioners who view elections from different angles and contribute to their respective institutions.
Throwing light on the idea behind IICDEM, its Director General Rakesh Verma said the theme for India's chairship, democracy for an inclusive, peaceful, resilient and sustainable world reflects a broad and multi-dimensional understanding of what democracy must deliver in the 21st century.
The three-day conference is the largest of its kind ever hosted by India in the field of democracy and election management, attended by heads of Election Management Bodies from across the world.
