For the first time in electoral history,Delhis Election Commission will videograph all political speeches and the poll process during the Assembly elections to be held later this year. Leading with the Election Commission of Indias Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme,which aims to increase voter awareness and participation in the five poll-going states,the State Election Commission has also identified crux areas,including polling stations with the lowest voter turnout. We have to examine reasons and demographics in the identified areas and take steps to turn around the low voter participation in Delhi, Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi Vijay Dev told Newsline. We have identified hyper-sensitive polling stations in the city from the point of view of law and order,crime and other factors. For the first time,arrangements have been made to videograph all political speeches prior to elections,as well as full videography of elections and counting, Dev said. The ECI on Monday expressed satisfaction over Delhis poll preparedness and the steps taken by the state to improve registration of voters. Historically,the voters turnout in Delhi has been bad between 55-60 per cent. Delhi Election Commission has done significant and satisfactory work in improving the health of the electoral roll, Akshay Rout,Director General of ECI,said. He said a baseline survey to assess the knowledge,attitude,belief and practices of voters would help them understand the extent and level of the perceptions,readiness,trends,and reasons for participation or non-participation of voters in the electoral process. This will now help us make targeted and pointed interventions in the electoral roll, Rout said. The Delhi Election Commission has already chalked out a plan to procure and mobilise 80,000 staff from Delhi and Central government for the conduct of elections across the 11,500 polling stations in the city. Delhi has a total of 70 Assembly constituencies,with 200 polling stations in each of the constituencies. Apart from Delhi,Rajasthan,Mizoram,Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will also go to polls later this year.
