Patna, Election Commissioner of India Dr. Vivek Joshi is on a four-day visit to Bihar. In this sequence, he has held a meeting with officials regarding the assembly elections in the capital Patna. In the meeting, preparations for the upcoming assembly elections, compliance with the model code of conduct and special brief revision of the voter list were discussed. Today he will visit Motihari.

Preparations reviewed: Apart from this, Election Commissioner of India Dr. Vivek Joshi reviewed the preparations related to SVEEP activities, law and order, management of polling personnel, arrangements for facilities for disabled and elderly voters, security arrangements and grievance redressal mechanism to increase the voting percentage.

Need to increase Bihar's voting percentage: Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi also mentioned that in the general elections held in the last 10 years, the voting percentage of Bihar has been between 56–57%, which needs to be increased with special efforts. He directed the officials that all the election related work should be completed with fairness and timeliness.

Necessary facilities should be ensured at polling stations: Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi said that the administration should take constructive initiatives to ensure active participation of all the participating parties. There are a total of 77,895 polling stations in Bihar. Minimum necessary facilities should be ensured at all these centers.

Add eligible citizens to the voter list: According to the final publication of the voter list, the total number of voters in Bihar is about 7.80 crores. The Election Commissioner directed that no eligible citizen should be deprived of adding name in the voter list.

Emphasis on inclusion of names of youth in the voter list: In particular, the number of youth in the age group of 18 to 19 years is less than their estimated population ratio. At present, the number of voters in this category is 8,08,857, while the estimated population is about 64 lakhs.

Concern expressed over low voting: The Election Commissioner also expressed concern in the context of voting percentage and said that, while the national average voting percentage is 66.10%. At the same time, the last Lok Sabha election in Bihar was concluded with only 56.28% voting, which is relatively low. In such a situation, a comprehensive strategy should be made to increase the voting percentage, which should be implemented at the micro level.

Maximum participation of Divyang and senior voters: There are a total of 7,69,046 Divyang (PWD) voters and 5,91,347 such senior voters in Bihar, whose age is more than 85 years. In such a situation, the Election Commissioner directed that maximum participation of these voters should be ensured in an inclusive manner, so that their voting can be completed without any hindrance.

Upcoming programs of Vivek Joshi: Election Commissioner of India Vivek Joshi will inspect FLC (First Level Checking) in Motihari today and will hold a review meeting with the District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police, Electoral Registration Officer and BLO in Bettiah (West Champaran). On Sunday, he will hold a meeting with the officials of SSB, Valmiki Nagar and visit the area. After this, he will be on a tour of Vaishali district on Monday.

Programs being organized for the accuracy of the voter list: It is noteworthy that the Election Commission of India is organizing large-scale training programs to ensure the accuracy of the voter list, in which polling station officials of Bihar and booth level agents of recognized political parties are participating. These training programs are also being organized division-wise in the state along with IIIDEM, the training institute of the Election Commission of India, New Delhi.

First level checking of EVMs going on in 13 districts: Along with this, the work of first level checking of EVMs for Bihar assembly elections is also going on in 13 districts. This visit of Election Commissioner Dr. Vivek Joshi is being done to see the status of voter facilities, security arrangements, FLC process, training centers and polling stations in the state.

These officers attended the meeting: Chief Electoral Officer Bihar Vinod Singh Gunjiyal, State Police Nodal Officer Kundan Krishnan, Inspector General of Police, District Election Officer-cum-District Magistrate Patna, Senior Superintendent of Police Patna, Additional Secretary and other officials including Election Department were present in the meeting.