Election Commission reviews poll preparedness of Tripura

Agartala:The Election Commission of India (ECI) has reviewed the poll-preparedness of the upcoming assembly polls with the election officials of Tripura in New Delhi and directed to undertake all preventive measures to conduct free and fair elections to be held in February, officials said here in a statement on Saturday.

The Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has directed Tripura CEO Kiran Gitte to ensure the elections are violence-free and peaceful. The four vital points were discussed in the meeting and specific directions have been issued to the election officials of the state including a healthy, inclusive and error-free electoral roll to be published on January 5 next year.

As per the decision of ECI, artificial intelligence has been put in place for the identification of Photo Similar Entries/ Demographically Similar Entries and shared with all Electoral Registration Officers to resolve the issue. All individuals of 18-19 ages shall be included in the voter list before the final publication, CEO Gitte said.

The instructions of ECI are to be followed strictly for the handling of EVMs and VVPATs while sufficient extensive and quality training to the poll personnel is to be imparted for ensuring fair and trouble-free elections. All the marginalized groups such as Bru-migrants, people with disability, third gender, women voters, and 80 years plus voters should be facilitated properly, he pointed out.

To oversee the preparedness, several teams of the Election Commission of India shall visit Tripura from December 20 next. There are 27.34 lakh voters in Tripura as per the draft electoral roll published last month, where 13.80 lakh were male, 13.53 lakh were female voters, and 46 were the third gender.The polling will be taken across 3328 polling stations in Tripura, Gitte added.(UNI)