ECI plans to redefine voting with major initiatives
New Delhi: In a sweeping drive to strengthen electoral management and improve voter facilitation, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has rolled out 21 major initiatives over the past 100 days. The reforms, introduced under the leadership of the 26th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, showcase a big strategic push for several areas. These include procedural clarity, technological integration, and stakeholder inclusivity in the electoral process, say EC sources.
These steps were charted out during the Conference of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) held in March 2025. Election Commissioners (ECs) Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi were also present on that occasion. The initiatives represent a 'purposeful, pragmatic, and proactive' approach in the first 100 days of the new CEC's tenure, added the sources.
One of the key measures includes reducing the maximum number of voters per polling station from 1,500 to 1,200. The purpose is to reduce congestion and ensure a smoother voting experience. To further improve access, additional polling booths will be established in densely populated areas, particularly in gated communities and high-rise buildings, so that no voter has to travel more than 2 km to cast their vote.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
14 hours ago
- Hans India
Intimate tour programmes to public in advance: CM to officials
Bengaluru: 'DC and CEOs should make their tour programs available to the public in advance. Inspection reports should be kept in proper records. Schools, hostels, residential schools should be visited regularly in the district to ensure that they are functioning properly. I have repeatedly instructed that such visits should be conducted every month without prior notice'. 'However, I have received reports that some have not followed this. It is your responsibility to ensure that the departments and officers under your jurisdiction function properly. If you do not work efficiently, how can you expect your subordinate officers to work?', queried Siddaramaiah. The exploited, the poor, the common people usually come to the office of the DC. If you do not listen to their problems, who will solve them? To whom should they tell their problems? All officers should be required to live in the taluk and district headquarters. All officers should be available at the centre and available to the people. The DC should ensure this. I should be given a report on the action taken against officers who are not at the centre. The District In-charge Secretaries should visit their respective districts at least twice a month and inspect the development works. Along with that, they should make surprise visits to schools, hostels, hospitals and submit a report to the Chief Secretary, instructed the CM.'No one should act against the intentions and objectives of the Constitution. Such forces should not be allowed to grow under any circumstances. In recent times, such forces have been rising, and such forces should be nipped in the bud. Whoever such people are, it is the responsibility of the DCs, CEOs and SPs to ensure that such forces do not grow', the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said vehemently. On 10 October 1949, the Constitution Implementation Meeting discussed whether the Indian Civil Service was needed and decided to create the IAS. In that meeting, Vallabhbhai Patel said, 'To lead the country in the spirit of real freedom struggles, there should be IAS service, you should understand its real concern social justice. We are running the government with the tax money of the people. We should not forget that we and you are enjoying all the privileges with the tax money of the people. We have given all the privileges including cars and houses with tax money. Therefore, we should work with a pro-people attitude. This is the basic idea of democracy. This year, 700 child marriages have taken place, incidents of becoming mothers in childhood have also been reported. FIRs have also been filed in many places about this. It has come to my attention that it has not been recorded. How is it that 700 child marriages are taking place even after so many years of independence? There are laws and regulations to prevent child marriage. However, they have not been used effectively in some places. Isn't this wrong, he asked. Why does child marriage not come to the notice of the DC? Don't your subordinates report to you? If your subordinates do not tell you, it means that you are not efficient. You have no control over the officials, it means that they are not afraid of you', he said. He added, '295176 applications have been submitted for forest rights, of which only 16700 forest rights have been provided. This should be disposed of properly. Cases should be disposed of properly in the DC, Tahsildar, AC courts. Decisions should be made on merit. There should be no tendency to postpone cases'.
New Indian Express
16 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Tamil Nadu arts colleges get 15K more seats, but only 252 additional guest lecturers
CHENNAI: Fulfilling its promise made in this year's budget that 15,000 more seats will be created in government arts and science colleges, the Tamil Nadu government's Higher Education (HE) department issued an order last week to introduce 252 new courses in 100 colleges across TN. However, the department has asked the Collegiate Education Commissioner (CEC) to engage only temporary guest lecturers (GLs) to cater to the increased number of courses and students. Moreover, it has sanctioned less than 50% of the number of GLs sought by the CEC. As per the order, the proposal sent by the CEC to the government said that 558 GLs will be required to teach these 252 courses for the first-year students who join these courses in both first and second shifts in colleges. Consequently, the CEC has sought Rs 13.95 crore for the 2025-26 academic year to pay salaries to these GLs at the rate of Rs 25,000 per month. (GLs are not paid salaries during the two-month vacation period). However, without explicitly mentioning any reason, the order sanctioned approval for engaging 252 GLs and allotted Rs 6.3 crore for their salaries. 'CEC had asked for money for the total number of staff needed, but the department has allocated lesser funds because they want to manage gap with the available staff. This is unfair and it will affect the quality of teaching also,' said V Thangaraj, president, All Government UGC Qualified Guest Lecturers Association, which has been demanding to increase salary of GLs for long. Of the 15,354 seats added in total, 2,008 have been added by incremental increase of seats in 173 existing courses in 29 government colleges.
Time of India
21 hours ago
- Time of India
SC panel seeks chief secy response on green zone norms ‘flout' in Satkosia
1 2 3 Bhubaneswar: The central empowered committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court has sought a response from Odisha chief secretary Manoj Ahuja regarding alleged violations of the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) in the draft proposal of the wildlife wing to carry out tourism activities in Satkosia Tiger Reserve. Satkosia Abhayaranya and Praja Surakshya Samiti (SAPSS), which filed the petition in SC, stated that Satkosia is a Ramsar Convention site and the forest department is attempting to modify the 2011 ESZ norms to allow the tourism department to undertake massive projects in the reserve. In the new draft proposal, the ESZ has been reduced to almost zero in the Baliput and Badmul areas, enabling the tourism department to proceed with construction, it claimed. The petition cited a 2022 SC judgment stating that if tourism inside a tiger reserve is to be promoted, it must be eco-tourism. While seeking response from Ahuja, CEC chairman Siddhant Das on May 16 wrote, "I am forwarding herewith a soft copy of the complaint on May 9 from Satkosia Abhayaranya and Praja Surakshya Samiti on the subject mentioned above. It is requested that the detailed response/comments of the state of Odisha may please be sent to the CEC at the earliest." "Satkosia authorities have plans to dilute the borders of the reserve to favour the tourism department. Promoting commercial tourism in the core area goes against the spirit and concept of eco-tourism, which is developed in buffer areas. Without approval from the State Board for Wildlife and National Board for Wildlife, Satkosia authorities have allowed construction by Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation Ltd. The department also plans to reconstruct the Gharial Research and Conservation Unit (Gracu) at Tikarpada," said Naba Kishor Bisoyi, president of the samiti, quoting the petition he sent to the Chief Justice of India. Bisoyi also drew the attention of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), additional director general (wildlife), ministry of environment, forests and climate change, and deputy director general of forests, regional office. "The 2011 norms allows for a 10-km ESZ from the Satkosia boundary. We filed the draft proposal to demarcate the ESZ afresh, which was done in consultation with people," said Saroj Panda, divisional forest officer, Satkosia. Prasanna Behera, a local wildlife activist, said the way the draft plan has been drawn, the reserve will be almost devoid of the ESZ in its core area close to the Mahanadi gorge. "It is appalling that the wildlife wing was so lenient in redrawing the ESZ to suit tourism needs. Apart from compromising tiger conservation, it will severely affect the conservation of crocodiles and gharials," Behera said.
