Electoral officer reviews ERO-NET, pushes for ‘Accessible Elections’

During the last Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, the need to assist differently-abled people at polling booths was factored in by the state unit of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and necessary arrangements were made to ensure that all polling booths were accessible. Wheelchairs were provided at polling stations and those requiring specific arrangements were asked to send in their requests.

Observing that the motto of the ECI for 2018 is ‘Accessible Elections’, Sahoo underscored various measures that have been initiated to ensure that everyone, including those with disabilities, were given access to exercise their franchise.

While explaining the functionalities of the ERO-Net, Sahoo walked the DEOs through the features of the updated version of the ERO-Net which would become functional shortly.

Seamless processing of all electoral forms within a fixed timeframe with alert notifications is among its key features.

Electoral management with unified electoral roll EPIC migration feature, easy form filling with auto fetch which would bring up DSE (demographically similar entries) while processing applications in case of multiple applications by the same person is another important feature.

The ERO-Net is a web-based service which would help voters register for the voter ID and get details of the voter card changed online. The system is expected to check inaccuracy and duplicity of votes. People can apply throughout the year using the service.

Sahoo also discussed the progress of applications received through ERO-Net from January 11 this year and advised each district to work diligently to clear backlogs, if any.

He emphasised that special focus should be given to the enrolment of voters in the 18-19 age group to enable the Election Commission’s motto of ‘No Voter to be left behind’ be fulfilled, through different SVEEP activities.

“To educate and promote electoral literacy among all age groups by engaging in interesting activities and hands on experience... the ECI introduced Electoral Literacy Clubs,” Sahoo said.