Page 52 - voice-international-oct2022

India

Reaching to the Roots

he Election
Commission
T of India
(ECI) released a new
digital publication
‘BLO e-Patrika’ (BLO
e-magazine) on
September 14, 2022.
It was followed by an
interactive session The release was joined by over 350 BLOs, joined
held with BLOs (Booth Level Officers) spread across via video-conferencing from the office of Chief
different States in India. The BLO is a representative Electoral Officers (CEOs) in States/UTs and 50 BLOs
of the ECI at the from the nearby states
grassroots level. He of Rajasthan, Uttar
or she plays a pivotal BLOs have a critical responsibility to facilitate voter Pradesh, and Delhi
role in the collection registration, door-to-door survey for updating the electoral joined the launch
of actual field roll & assistance on the polling day. This E-Patrika will event physically at
information, collection reinforce the BLOs with the nuances of voter awareness India Habitat Centre,
of registration forms programs and to sensitize them to modern-day technologies New Delhi. The event
from citizens, and & minimum SVEEP activities across the country. was also live-streamed
processing of roll - Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner, India on the ECI YouTube
revision corresponding channel and was
to the polling area shared with the giant
assigned to him. There network of BLOs for
are about 1 million BLOs, working on the ground for facilitating their participation.
the ECI. The idea behind introducing the bi-monthly
Under Section 13B (2) of the Representation of e-magazine is a novel initiative by the Indian
The People Act, 1950, the BLOs are appointed from Election Commission. The Patrika provides a
among government, semi-government and local platform for three-way communication- A platform
body officials. BLO is a friend, philosopher, and for ECI to share instructions till ground level, for
guide of the local people in matters relating to the sharing feedback and success stories and facilitating
electoral roll. learning of interstate best practices. The themes
of the bimonthly e-Patrika will include various
subjects related to voter awareness.
The BLO E-Patrika emphasizes on this teamwork and presents
a detailed account of BLO stories in an attempt to connect
with the Booth Level Officer who is like a bridge between ECI
and the electors.
- Anup Chandra Pandey, Election Commissioner, India

Scan for the video of the event
Source: http//eci.in/

52 | VoICE International | October 2022