The eight batch of training for Booth Level Officers (BLO) Supervisors began at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi today. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India Shri Gyanesh Kumar addressed the participants of the training programme including BLOs, BLO Supervisors, Electoral Registration Officers from Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. This is the biggest batch of grassroots election officials to be trained yet at IIIDEM with 373 participants (118 from Uttar Pradesh; 130 from Madhya Pradesh; 96 from Chhattisgarh and 29 from Haryana). With this, over 3,720 field officials have been trained in the last two months by ECI in New Delhi.

In his inaugural address, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said that these training programmes are essential to ensure that elections are conducted strictly in accordance with the Representation of People Act 1950, 1951, Registration of Electors Rules 1960, Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 and the instructions issued by the ECI from time to time. CEC also underlined that the participants, through the training, will familiarise themselves with the provisions of first and second appeals against the final electoral rolls as published with the DM/District Collector/Executive Magistrate under section 24(a) of RP Act 1950 and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the State/UT under section 24(b) respectively. He also encouraged the BLOs and BLO Supervisors to make the electors also aware of these provisions during their field level verification.

It may be recalled that no appeals were filed from Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh after the completion of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) exercise as of 6th-10th of January 2025.

The training is designed to enhance participants’ practical understanding especially in the areas of voter registration, Form handling, and field-level implementation of electoral procedures. Participants will also receive practical training on the IT tools. The officials will also be provided technical demonstrations and training of EVMs and VVPATs including mock polls.