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    • ECI SVEEP
      No. ECI/PN/64/2022
      Dated: July 28, 2022
      PRESS NOTE
      More Opportunities for youth to become part of voters list
      Four chances in a year to enrol - need not wait for 1st January qualifying date only
      Advance application facility to 17+ year youngsters
      New User-friendly forms for voter registration w.e.f 1.8.22
      Single Form 8 devised for Correction of entries, if required
      Voluntary Aadhar collection to link with Voter card
      Focus on removing Demographically/Photo Similar Entries
      Commission orders Annual Summary Revision; Pre-revision activity to begin in August
      Checking /Supervising to ensure a Healthy Electoral Roll
      17+ year old youngsters can now apply in advance for having their names enrolled in Voter’s list and not necessarily have to await the pre-requisite criterion of attaining age of 18 years on 1st January of a year. ECI led by Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Shri Anup Chandra Pandey have directed the CEOs/EROs/AEROs of all States to work out tech-enabled solutions such that the youth are facilitated to file their advance applications with reference to three subsequent qualifying dates i.e. 01st April, 01st July and 01st October and not just 1st January. Henceforth, the Electoral Roll will be updated every quarter and eligible youngsters can be registered in the next quarter of the year in which he/she has attained the qualifying age of 18 years. After getting registered, he/she will be issued an Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC). For the current round of annual revision of electoral roll, 2023, any citizen attaining the age of 18 years by April 1, July 1 and October 1 of 2023 can also submit an advance application for registration as a voter from the date of draft publication of electoral roll.
      "In other words, advance application can be submitted on or after 9th November 2022, the date on which draft electoral roll will be published"
      The Election Commission of India, in pursuance of the legal amendments in the Section 14(b) of the RP Act 1950 and consequent modifications in Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, has initiated the process for bringing about necessary changes for preparation/revision of electoral roll of Assembly/Parliamentary Constituency. It may be recalled that on the recommendations of ECI, the Ministry of Law & Justice recently amended the RP Act to provide for four qualifying dates i.e., 01st January, 01st April, 01st July and 01st October as eligibility for youngsters to register in electoral rolls as opposed to the earlier single qualifying date of 1st January only.

      As per existing policy, revision of electoral rolls with reference to 1st January of the coming year as the qualifying date was done normally in the later part of each year in all States/UTs (normally in the last quarter of a year) so that final publication of the electoral rolls is made in the first week of January of the succeeding year. This meant that a large number of young persons who completed 18 years after 1st January had to wait for Special Summary Revision of the next year for enrolment and were not able to participate in elections held in the intervening period. The Commission has also made the registration Forms more user friendly and simpler. The newly modified Forms will come into force on 1st August, 2022. All applications (claims and objections), in old forms, received before 1st August, 2022 will be processed and disposed of and in such cases, there is no need to file application in new forms.

      The Commission has ordered Annual Summary Revision with reference to 01.01.2023 as the qualifying date in all States except the Poll Going States. All the pre-revision activities are undertaken in accordance with the Commission’s existing instructions and guidelines and Manual on Electoral Roll, 2016 and Manual on Polling Stations, 2020. The revision and prerevision activities are done in such a manner that the Electoral Rolls are  finally published much before National Voters’ Day (25th January of every year) so that EPICs generated for new electors especially young voters (18-19 years) can be distributed to them in ceremonial manner on the day of NVD.
      Pre-revision activities include Rationalization/Re-arrangement of Polling Stations; Removal of discrepancies of Demographically/Photo Similar Entries; Preparation of Supplements and integrated draft roll with reference to 01.01.2023 as the qualifying date. Commission has directed to take all efforts to ensure 100% removal of DSEs/PSEs from electoral roll and discrepancies in EPICs during the current round of pre-revision activities.
      The revision activities to begin in November include disposal of claims and objections received after publication of integrated draft electoral roll. Under the Special Summary Revision, a one-month period is available to file claims and objections in the draft electoral roll. Special camps will be organized by CEOs on weekends for which the date will be publicized by concerned CEOs. The final electoral roll will be published on 5th January 2023.
      Polling Station Rationalization
      As part of the Annual Summary Revision, polling stations, having more than 1500 electors, shall be rationalized/modified as per the given schedule and before the draft publication of electoral rolls in accordance with instructions contained in Manual on Polling Station, 2020. A new Polling Station shall be created only after rationalizing the sections to the adjacent Polling Stations to the possible extent. Other objectives of rationalization of polling stations are to group all the family members and neighbors in a section.
      EPIC-AADHAR linking
      For linking of AADHAR number with Electoral Roll data, provision has been made in the modified registration forms to seek Aadhaar details of electors. A new Form-6B has also been introduced for collecting Aadhaar number of existing electors. However, no application for inclusion of name in electoral roll shall be denied and no entries in electoral roll shall be deleted for inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar Number.
      It has been emphasized that while handling Aadhaar number of the applicants, the provision under Section 37 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 must be adhered to. Under no circumstances should it go public. If the electors’ information is required to put for public display, the Aadhaar details must be removed or masked.
      A Time bound drive is being started w.e.f. 01.8.22 for collection of Aadhaar number of the existing electors. Furnishing of Aadhaar number is purely voluntary. Objective of the programme is to establish the identity of electors and authentication of entries in Electoral Roll 
      Deleting Repeat/Multiple Entries from Electoral Roll 
      Detailed Procedure of Deletion of Repeat/Multiple Entries has been specified. In repeated/multiple entries reported by individual citizens, BLAs of political parties or RWA representatives, field verification is mandatorily done in each and every case. Name of the elector would be deleted in the electoral roll only at the place where he/she is not found to be ordinarily residing.
      Field Verifications and Super checking for Healthy Electoral Roll
      For the purpose of improving the health of the electoral roll, the Election Commission has emphasized the need for field verification by the Booth Level Officers. There is a mechanism for supervision and checking for enforcing strict accountability of the work performed by different levels of electoral machinery, such as Supervisors, EROs and AEROs by field verification. Similarly, DEOs, Roll Observers and CEOs also check the work done by EROs before the final decision on claims and objections is taken. Besides, Officers from ECI and O/o CEOs are also deployed to further random checks and to supervise.
      Participative Process- Involving BLAs
      With a view to ensure more involvement of political parties, the Commission has allowed Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of recognized political parties to file applications in bulk, subject to the condition that a BLA shall not submit more than 10 Forms to BLO at one time/in one day. If a BLA files more than 30 Applications/Forms during the entire period of filing claims and objections, then the cross verification must be done by ERO/AERO themselves. Further, the BLA will also submit a list of application forms with a declaration that he has personally verified the particulars of the application forms and is satisfied that they are correct.
      PN. Hindi version.pdf PN 64_UPDATED.pdf

    • No. ECI/PN/66/2022
      10.08.2022
      PRESS NOTE
      ECI to host virtual Asian Regional Forum meet on “Making our Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative” 
      Asian Regional Forum meet is a precursor to “Global Summit for Democracy” to be hosted by the National Electoral Institute of Mexico 
      Five Regional Forums for America, Africa, Asia, Europe and North Africa & Middle East created as part of Global Summit for Democracy 
      The Election Commission of India will be hosting a virtual meet of the ‘Asian Regional Forum’ on the theme “Making our Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative” at Nirvachan Sadan on August 11, 2022. This Regional Forum meet is precursor to the “Global Summit for Democracy'' to be hosted by the National Electoral Institute of Mexico in the coming month. The Global Summit and Regional Forum meets aims to generate synergy amongst international organizations, electoral bodies from the world and to promote intellectual and institutional mobilization to strengthen electoral democracy in the world. 
      Shri Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner of India, and Shri Anup Chandra Pandey, Election Commissioner will preside over the Asian Regional Forum meet. The meet will have participation from Election Management Bodies of Mexico, Mauritius, Philippines, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Maldives and Representatives from International IDEA, Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) and International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
      This Asian Regional Forum (ARF) meet has two sessions. The first session is on ‘Inclusive Elections: Enhancing Participation of Youth, Gender and Citizens in Remote Areas’ which will be co-chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner from Mauritius and Nepal.  The session will have representation from COMELEC Philippines and representatives from International IDEA and A-WEB. 
      The second session on ‘Accessible Elections: Enhancing Participation of  Persons with Disabilities & Senior Citizens’ will be chaired by the Commissioner, COMELEC, Philippines and CEC of Uzbekistan and will have representation from Election Commission of Nepal & Maldives and IFES (Asia Pacific). 
      As part of this ‘Global Summit for Democracy’, five Regional Forums namely Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and countries of the Arab States have been created. India is hosting the Asian Regional Forum meet of the EMBs not only to institutionalize and mobilize the EMBs as a precursor to “Global Summit for Democracy'' but also to reflect upon the changing geo-politics, emerging technologies and their use in election management in view of the challenges presented by COVID-19 pandemic. Outcomes from the Regional Forum Meets is aimed at generating an action plan and agenda to strengthen democracy around the world, particularly through robust election processes. So far, three  Regional Forum meets for Europe, America and Africa have been held in the months of June and July, 2022.
      Curtain Raiser ARF.pdf

    • No. ECI/PN/67/2022                                                                 
      10.08.2022
       PRESS NOTE
      ECI organizes experience sharing & knowledge transfer conference of Chief Electoral Officers of States/UTs
      CEC Shri Rajiv Kumar urged CEOs to replicate successful initiatives ensuring integrity of election processes 
      ECI felicitates officials from MHA, CAPF and Ministry of Railways for their significant contribution in smooth conduct of elections
      The Election Commission of India today organized a conference with the Chief Electoral Officers of poll-gone and poll-going States/UTs at India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, New Delhi. CEOs from other States/UT joined the conference via video-conferencing. The  conference is organised to share experiences and learnings from recently held State Assembly Elections  in 2021 and 2022, along with thematic discussions on election planning, expenditure monitoring, electoral roll, IT Applications, data management, EVM/VVPAT, SVEEP strategy, media and communication. 

      During his address, CEC Shri Rajiv Kumar complimented CEOs of the poll-gone states for successfully conducting elections in testing times. He emphasised that initiatives and innovations by states need to be scrupulously replicated without compromising the integrity of the election processes. He added that individual initiatives and innovations by CEOs for use of IT in election management need to be comprehensively analysed with implementable features standardised and integrated with ECI IT systems/Apps to avoid duplication of efforts. Shri Rajiv Kumar also mentioned the need for scientific management of election materials for optimal utilisation as well as a digital portal for easy access of all outreach content developed by States and ECI. CEOs were directed to ensure that representatives from the National & State Disaster Response Force team are also called for coordination meetings. With changing connectivity and technological landscape, he highlighted that polling stations need to be geo-tagged and route charts need to be revised by district administration.  
      During the discussions on Voter Outreach campaigns, CEC stressed that SVEEP strategy needs to engage with grassroot level with emphasis on analysis of low voter turn-out polling stations and focussed targeted interventions. He urged CEOs to provide regular feedback to the ECI for systemic improvements and improvising voter facilitation. 
      Election Commissioner Shri Anup Chandra Pandey highlighted the need to brainstorm ideas and best practices being implemented in poll-gone states which can be emulated in other states. He added some of the best practices implemented by certain states in previous elections like integration of road maps by Tamil Nadu, Chatbot by Goa, Learning Management System by Assam, special initiatives for Divyangs by Uttarakahnd, Meghdoot postcard for awareness in association with postal department by Tamil Nadu, mobile app ANUBHAV for facilitating PwDs by West Bengal. Shri Pandey stressed that CEO teams should remain vigilant to ensure that integrity of election processes are maintained and  strict action is taken as per law against any violations. 
      On the recent drive by the Commission for voluntary collection of AADHAAR, Shri Pandey stressed on the need for strict adherence to ECI guidelines on collection of details. He complimented CEOs that since the launch of the drive wef August 1, 2022, over 2.5 crores AADHAR have been collected voluntarily.
      During the conference, the Commission also felicitated officials from Ministry of Home Affairs, Central Armed Police Forces and Ministry of Railways for their significant contribution in the conduct of elections in free, fair, peaceful and transparent manner during the Assembly Elections held in 2022. The forces had to move through difficult terrains and had also travelled long distances from one state to another as part of their election duty to ensure smooth conduct of elections. CEC Shri Rajiv Kumar complimented them for their meticulous planning and time bound movement of election personnel during assembly elections in 2022.  The Commission has also extended the grant of honorarium to ad-hoc Commandants/Commandants of Forces deployed on election duty  for all elections conducted by the Election Commission of India.


      On this occasion, the Commission also  released the latest edition of A-WEB India Journal of Elections. It’s a prestigious international publication containing researched articles, papers & contributions from across the A-WEB community. A-WEB is the largest association of World Election Management Bodies.

      CEOs of the poll-gone states gave detailed presentations about their experiences, learnings and innovative practices they adopted during the recently held state assembly elections. CEOs from the poll going states also presented their status of preparation for conduct of elections, ongoing SSR activities, focussed activities being undertaken to improve the health of electoral roll at each Assembly Constituency.

      Senior DECs, DECs, DGs and other senior officers from the Commission were also present during the conference. 
      Press Note (CEOs Conference) (2).pdf

    • Commission has directed that during ongoing special summary revision, special camps may be organized for PwDs on weekends on such locations where they can easily approach and inspect the draft roll or submit their claims and objections in a hassle free manner. These locations can be Schools for Blinds, schools for Deaf, Leprosy centres etc. Special arrangements may be made to aid such electors during the camps such as providlng the services scribes, deployment of staff conversant with sign language and other basic amenities. Advance Publicity may be made for such camps,dates & venue.
      ERoll_11102018.pdf

    • General, Police and Expenditure Observers nominated to be deployed in the State of Chhattisgarh were briefed by Commission on 12th October at New Delhi. They were briefed on their role in the General Elections to the State Assembly which shall be held in two phases on 12th and 20th November. The counting for all the five states will be held on December 11, 2018.
      The Observers are being deployed
      Observers are deployed to assist the Commission in conduct of free and fair polls. They are required to oversee the efficient and effective management of the electoral process at the field level. For all purposes, they act as the eyes and ears of the Commission during the period of the election and provide direct inputs to the Commission from the field as an interface with the election machinery the candidates, political parties, and electors to ensure that the Acts, rules, procedures, instructions and guidelines related to elections are strictly and impartially complied with by all concerned.
      Observers of the Election Commission of India are appointed under the powers conferred on it by Section 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the plenary powers available to the Commission under the Constitution of India. They are the appointees of the Commission working under the superintendence, control and discipline of the Commission for the period from their appointment until the process of election is completed.

    • Assembly Elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana shall be held in four phases between November 12 and December 7. The counting for all the five states will be held on December 11, 2018. The dates of elections are as follows:
      Chhattisgarh - 12th and 20th November (2 phases)
      Madhya Pradesh - 28th November
      Mizoram - 28th November
      Rajasthan - 7th December
      Telangana - 7th December
       
      An innovative ‘bottom up’ approach of booth level planning and management has been implemented in the 5 States where  Booth Level plans for Polling Stations have been prepared containing all information and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for response to ensure smooth conduct of elections at each Polling Station. VVPATs shall be used with the EVMs in all the polling stations. The Commission has also mandated that VVPAT slip count of one randomly selected Polling Station in each Assembly Constituency by the Returning Officer by Draw of Lot in presence of all candidates shall be done for verification of the result obtained from the Control Unit. Thus, VVPAT paper slips of one polling station in each Assembly Constituency will be counted in these States. 
       
      Voter Facilitation Centres have been activated in all the districts to facilitate voters. Special campaign including hands on experience, has been undertaken on EVM & VVPAT awareness starting September 2018 in view of VVPATs being used for the first time in the Assembly Elections in these states. In addition to that, short awareness film on VVPAT has been developed and widely disseminated through Cinemas, Cable TV besides Social Media including whatsapp besides others. 
       
      The Model Code of Conduct comes into effect immediately with the announcement. ECI has launched c-VIGIL Android Mobile Application where ‘cVIGIL’ denotes ‘Vigilant Citizen’ . Using the application, vigilant citizens can send live reports on incidents of MCC violation within minutes of having witnessed them. The violations could be reported from the date of announcement of elections to a day after the polls without going to the office of the Returning Officer in their assembly constituency.
       
      To ensure participation of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in the election process, special initiatives have been rolled out ahead of these elections to facilitate persons with disabilities for enrolment as well as on poll day. Besides making awareness material accessible, extending EPIC in Braille for blind electors, sensitization of polling officials and making polling station accessible, electors with disabilities are being mapped Polling Station wise so that requisite facilitation can be extended on poll day. PwD electors shall be extended pick and drop facility on poll day to help them exercise their franchise. The Commission has also directed to issue Accessible Photo Voter Slips with Braille Features to Persons with Visual Impairment or Blind.
       
      Voter Guide (in Vernacular / English) shall be handed over to every household ahead of the elections, giving information about the date and time of polls, contact details of the BLOs, important websites, helpline numbers, documents required for identification at the polling station besides other important information including the Do’s and Don’ts for voters at the polling station. This Voter Guide Brochure will be distributed along with the Photo Voter Slips by the BLOs.
       
      Detailed Press note at https://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/Current/PN_06102018.pdf
       

About Us

SVEEPSystematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) is a programme of multi interventions through different modes and media designed to educate citizens, electors and voters about the electoral process in order to increase their awareness and participation in the electoral processes. SVEEP is designed according to the socio-economic, cultural and demographic profile of the state as well as the history of electoral participation in previous rounds of elections and learning thereof.   

Election Commission of India

ECIThe Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India. The body administers elections to the Lok SabhaRajya Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country. The Election Commission operates under the authority of Constitution per Article 324, and subsequently enacted Representation of the People Act

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