Chief Election Commissioner of India, Shri Gyanesh Kumar, inaugurated the first-ever training of BLOs, along with EC Dr. Vivek Joshi, at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi, today.
Over 1 lakh BLOs with an average of one BLO per 10 polling stations will be trained in such training programs over the next few years. These well-trained BLOs will form a corps of Assembly Level Master Trainers (ALMTs) to strengthen the entire network of BLOs nationwide, who are the first and most important interface between the 100 Crore electors and the Commission.
This unique capacity-building program will continue in phases, focusing first on poll-bound states. Currently, 109 BLOs from Bihar, West Bengal and Assam are participating in this 2-day residential training program, along with 24 EROs and 13 DEOs from Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.
The training is planned to familiarize the BLOs with their roles and responsibilities as per the RP Act 1950, the Registration of Elector Rules 1960 and instructions of the Commission issued from time to time and to equip them with requirements of filling relevant forms for an error free up-dation of electoral rolls. They will be familiarized with IT applications designed to support their work.
BLOs are State Government officials and are appointed by the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) after the approval of the District Election Officers (DEOs).
Chief Election Commissioner Shri Gyanesh Kumar while acknowledging the critical role of EROs and BLOs in error free up-dation of electoral rolls, stressed that the state governments should nominate SDM level or equivalent officers as EROs, who then should appoint BLOs giving due consideration to their seniority and who are ordinary resident of the polling station under their charge.
CEC underscored that as per Article 326 of the Constitution and Section 20 of the RP Act 1950, only citizens of India who are above 18 years of age and ordinarily resident in the constituency can be registered as electors.
He recalled his directions to all CEOs, DEOs, EROs for holding all-party meetings at their respective levels and resolve issues relating to their area of jurisdiction including correct up-dation of electoral rolls.
He also cautioned that any complaint against ERO or BLO will be strictly acted upon. He said that all BLOs should be courteous in their interactions with the electors during house-to-house verification for up-dation of electoral rolls.
He said that the Commission was, is and will always continue to stand with nearly 100 crore electors.
In fact, India has a parliamentary system as defined by its constitution, with power distributed between the union government and the states. India’s democracy is the largest democracy in the world.
The President of India is the ceremonial head of state of the country and supreme commander-in-chief for all defense forces in India. However, it is the Prime Minister of India, who is the leader of the party or political alliance having a majority in the national elections to the Lok Sabha (Lower house of the Parliament). The Prime Minister is the leader of the legislative branch of the Government of India. The Prime Minister is the chief adviser to the President of India and the head of the Union Council of Ministers.
India is regionally divided into States (and Union Territories) and each State has a Governor who is the state’s head, but the executive authority rests with the Chief Minister, who is the leader of the party or political alliance that has won a majority in the regional elections, otherwise known as State Assembly Elections that exercises executive powers in that State.
The respective State’s Chief Minister has executive powers within the State and works jointly with the Prime Minister of India or their ministers on matters that require both State and Central attention. Some Union Territories also elect an Assembly and have a territorial government, and other (mainly smaller) Union Territories are governed by an administrator/lieutenant governor appointed by the President of India.
The President of India monitors the rule of law through their appointed governors in each State and on their recommendation, can take over the executive powers from the Chief Minister of the State temporarily when the elected representatives of the State government have failed to create a peaceful environment and it has deteriorated into chaos. The President of India dissolves the existing State government if necessary, and a new election is conducted.
The Republic of India has instituted universal suffrage since independence from the British Raj, with the adoption of the Constitution of India in 1949.
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