Haryana Chief Electoral Officer, Pankaj Agarwal, said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has implemented 21 new initiatives over the last 100 days to strengthen the electoral process and improve voter convenience.
These efforts, taken between February 19 and May 29, 2025, represent a significant step toward enhancing the voter experience and streamlining election management. The initiatives include procedural reforms, training programs, and stakeholder engagement activities, he informed.
Sh. Agarwal said that under the leadership of India’s 26th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sh. Gyanesh Kumar, several purposeful, pragmatic and proactive measures have been implemented. During the Chief Electoral Officers’ Conference held in March 2025, the vision for a reinvigorated ECI was charted out by the CEC in the presence of Election Commissioners Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi.
Sh. Pankaj Agarwal further shared that among the key reforms is the decision to cap the number of voters per polling station at 1,200. Additionally, polling stations will be set up in high-rise buildings and large housing colonies to make voting more accessible.
He said that for voter list updates, death registration data will now be directly sourced from the Registrar General of India (RGI) database and incorporated after verification. Voter information slips will be redesigned to be more elector-friendly, with clearer display of serial and part numbers.
Furthermore, mobile deposit facilities will be made available just outside polling stations to assist voters, said Sh. Pankaj Agarwal.He said that to strengthen coordination with political parties, the ECI conducted 4,719 all-party meetings at various levels (40 at the CEO level, 800 at the DEO level, and 3,879 at the ERO level), engaging over 28,000 political party representatives.
The Commission also held meetings with national and state party leaders, including those from AAP, BJP, BSP, CPI(M), and NPP. Capacity-building programs were conducted for booth-level party agents in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry through the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), shared Sh. Pankaj Agarwal.
He said that in a move to make campaigning more practical, the ECI has relaxed the minimum distance norms for setting up campaign booths—from 200 meters to 100 meters away from polling stations. Technologically, the Commission launched a new integrated dashboard, ECINET, which consolidates over 40 applications and websites into a single platform, offering all essential services in one place. The issue of duplicate EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) has been resolved with the introduction of a new system that assigns unique EPIC numbers to voters, said Sh. Pankaj Agarwal.He informed that the Commission has identified 28 key stakeholders involved in the election process, including voters, election officials, political parties, and candidates.
These roles and responsibilities are based on the Representation of the People Act (1950 and 1951), the Registration of Electors Rules 1960, the Conduct of Elections Rules 1961, and ongoing ECI guidelines. Training materials and presentations are being developed for each stakeholder group to ensure better awareness and compliance with legal provisions, said Sh. Pankaj Agarwal.
He said that to further enhance coordination and legal awareness, a national conference was organized for lawyers representing the ECI and CEO offices. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will now receive standard photo ID cards for better recognition and accountability.
At IIIDEM, more than 3,500 booth-level Supervisors have already been trained, and approximately 6,000 BLOs and BLO supervisors will be trained over the next 45 days across 20 batches. The long-term goal is to train over 1 lakh BLO supervisors in the coming years.
Additionally, orientation programs for media officers from CEO offices across all 36 states and Union Territories have been conducted. Bihar Police officers have also received training at IIIDEM. The ECI has implemented biometric attendance systems, operationalized the e-Office system, and held regular coordination meetings with state CEOs. Efforts have also been made to improve coordination between various ECI divisions and the offices of Chief Electoral Officers to ensure more effective and transparent election management.