Election commission begins preparation for MCD polls in Delhi

As the delimitation of municipal wards is done, the Delhi State Election Commission (SEC) will now start preparation for smooth elections for three civic bodies to be held in April. The commission requires around 65,000 personnel for different jobs. The commission has started sending requisitions to various departments of Central and state governments including civic bodies to spare their employees for the same.

While giving break-up of the workforce to be used in the elections, a senior SEC official said each ward will have assistant returning officers (ARO) and a constituency will be looked after by a returning officer (RO). All 11 districts will have a dedicated district election officer (DEO), he added.

These officials will be responsible for all the aspects of the elections from filing of nominations to counting of votes and declaring the results.

“There are more than 13,000 polling booths which will have a polling team of five officials with one class IV employee,” he said.

Read: Delhi MCD elections to be held in April after CBSE board exams

By the end of this month, nearly 350 officials will be made available to SEC, who will discharge the duties of ROs, AROs, DEOs, electoral registration officers (EROs) and assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs). “All of will not come in one go. They will be relieved by their departments in phased manner as our work proceeds. Initially, we will engage around 300-350 people,” he said.

After joining, they will carry out an inspection of all polling booths to check whether they have the required infrastructure and facilities like proper light arrangement, rooms, drinking water, or toilet etc.

“If a booth is not found to be fit as per our requirement, then it will be shifted to some other address,” said the official.

The SEC will adopt electoral roll prepared by the chief electoral officer (CEO), used for 2015 assembly elections. “The CEO has already started names clearing process in the electoral roll. The first level checking of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be held in February. The process of preparing budget and requisition for other things for the polls will also be initiated by the end of this month,” he said.