Administrators of all categories of urban bodies under the state participated in the meeting convened with the administrators of all the urban bodies at the headquarters level today as per the predetermined program in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Jharkhand. In the meeting, ongoing preparations for the Lok Sabha elections in urban areas were reviewed. In the meeting, a strategy was made by taking suggestions from the administrators of all the urban bodies to increase the voting percentage in the cities and everyone was also made aware of the relevant guidelines of the Election Commission in this regard.
On this occasion, Chief Electoral Officer, K Ravi Kumar said that in the last general elections, the voting percentage of urban bodies has been less as compared to rural areas. We have to work to make the voters of urban areas aware and convey the importance of voting to them, along with this we also have to work in a planned manner towards accessible voting so that any voter gets the opportunity to vote without any inconvenience. He said that the municipal body workers are in constant touch with the urban citizens, hence an action plan has been made to convey election related information and importance of voting directly to the common urban citizens through them.
In the meeting, along with administrators of civic bodies, Director of State Urban Development Agency, Amit Kumar, Ranchi Municipal Commissioner, Amit Kumar also made detailed suggestions for increasing the voting percentage in urban areas.
Dozens of suggestions were received like making arrangements for free parking around the polling booths on the day of voting, creating door to door awareness by municipal body workers, spreading election related messages through civic body vehicles.
During this period, a program of mutual dialogue and discussion was also organised. In which the Electoral Registration Officers of the urban areas were asked what kind of cooperation they expect from the civic administration, while the civic administrators were asked whether they would like to get help from the level of District Election Officers or Chief Electoral Officer office. What kind of coordination and cooperation do you expect?
The Chief Electoral Officer appealed to everyone that this time everyone's best efforts are expected to increase the voting percentage in the urban areas of the state.
During the meeting, administrators of all the municipal bodies of the state, apart from electoral registration officers of urban areas, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Neha Arora, Joint Secretary Subodh Kumar, OSD Geeta Choubey, Under Secretary Devdas Dutta, Deputy Electoral Officer Headquarters Sanjay Kumar and officials and personnel of the Chief Electoral Officer's office were present.