19 hours ago
ECI has taken 23 initiatives to strengthen electoral system, says its Deputy Director
Election Commission of India (ECI) Deputy Director (Media Division) P. Pavan said the ECI took 23 initiatives aimed at strengthening the electoral system, with a focus on improving facilities to voters, political parties, and election staff, between February 19 and June 10, 2025.
They also included some procedural reforms, legal measures and innovations, he said, while stressing the significant role played by the media in increasing voter turnout in elections.
Interacting with media persons at the Secretariat on Friday (June 20, 2025), Mr. Pavan said voter information slips were being made more useful now by prominently displaying voter serial numbers and part numbers, and data related to deaths was being collected from the Registrar General of India database, and necessary changes were being done in the electoral rolls after due verification.
The ECI mandated that each polling station should have a maximum of 1,200 voters, and facilities like additional polling booths in apartments/colonies were being provided.
Regarding political parties, Mr. Pavan said the campaign boundary had been reduced to 100 metres from the entrances of polling stations, and noted that 4,719 meetings were held across the country at the CEO/DEO/ERO levels with various political parties involving over 28,000 party representatives. Training programmes for booth-level agents were being conducted at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM).
The procedural reforms included digitisation of Voter Trend Reports, index cards and statistical reports to ensure faster dissemination of election data. A new integrated dashboard called ECINET had been launched replacing more than 40 apps / websites with a single platform for all services.
The introduction of a unique EPIC number had resolved the issue of duplicate voter IDs. Standard photo ID cards were being issued to booth-level officers. Through the offices of Chief Electoral Officers of States, special training programmes were being conducted at the IIIDEM for media / communication officers from 36 States / UTs, Mr. Pavan added.
