EC trains fresh batch of poll officials from Bihar

New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) The Election Commission (EC) has started training a fresh batch of booth-level officers from Bihar, which is slated to go to polls later this year.

This is the third such batch of BLOs to be trained from the poll-bound state. As many as 229 BLOs, 12 electoral registration officers (EROs) and two district election officers (DEOs) from the state are being trained in the two-day training programme.

A specialised daylong training programme for the state police nodal officers (SPNOs) and police officers from Bihar also commenced on Wednesday, the EC said.

The training programme was inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in the presence of Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi and was followed by an interaction with the participants.

The training is planned to familiarise the BLOs with their roles and responsibilities in accordance with the statutory framework and equip them to ensure error-free electoral rolls.

They will also be trained in the IT applications designed to support their roles.

This is the latest in the first phase of the ongoing physical-training programmes, in which 555 BLOs from Bihar, West Bengal and Assam and 279 booth-level Agents (BLA-1s) of 10 recognised national and state political parties from Bihar have already been trained.

These well-trained BLOs will form a corps of assembly level master trainers (ALMTs) to strengthen the entire network of BLOs nationwide.

The training of SPNOs and police officers from Bihar aims at improving coordination between election authorities and police for enhanced electoral management, especially in the areas of law and order, vulnerability assessment, central forces' deployment and Model Code of Conduct (MCC) enforcement. PTI NAB RC