Absentees during poll training sessions to face action: Gautam Budh Nagar Admin

The process of taking legal action under the relevant sections of the Public Representation Act will be initiated against the employees who skipped the training

NOIDA: The Gautam Budh Nagar district administration is all set to initiate legal action against presiding and polling officials who skipped training sessions held in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, officials said on Saturday.

The training sessions focused on various aspects such as understanding how EVMs work, and other procedures related to electoral process. (HT Photo)

The fourth training session for the presiding and polling officials concluded on Saturday for the Gautam Budh Nagar constituency, officials informed.

The training sessions, which began from April 3, focused on various aspects such as understanding how electronic voting machines (EVMs) work, functions of machines and other procedures related to electoral process.

Officials informed that the presiding and polling officials, were trained through audio-visual methods as well as practical demonstrations, at the four-day training sessions held at the Rajkiya Balika Inter College in Sector 51 of Hoshiyarpur, Noida.

According to nodal officer (training), Gautam Budh Nagar, under the training program, as per the directions of the Election Commission of India, a total of 1,760 presiding and polling officers were to undergo training in four shifts, by the district-level master trainers, in Gautam Budh Nagar.

“On day-one of the training (April 3), around 100 of them didn’t attend the session. On the second day, 57 officials didn’t show up. On the third day (April 5), 37 officials didn’t come,” the officer said.

Under the poll training, presiding and polling officials were given sessions and explained in detail about the polling process through various techniques including audio-visual methods, informed district administration officials.

District magistrate and chief electoral officer (Gautam Budh Nagar) Manish Kumar Verma said that under the training sessions, the officials were explained about the polling process in detail through PowerPoint presentations, videos and hands-on training.

“These sessions included information and training pertaining to setting up of polling station, facilities to be checked and roles and responsibilities of the personnel involved,” he said.

The training enables polling officials to understand the election system and ensures an error-free election process, said the official.

“The process of taking legal action under the relevant sections of the Public Representation Act will be initiated against the employees who were missing from the training sessions,” the DM said.

On Friday, 15 nominations were accepted after the scrutiny process concluded while 22 were rejected of the total 41 nominations received from candidates for the Gautam Budh Nagar parliamentary seat, as per the Election Commission of India (ECI) website.

The district goes to polls on April 26 in the second phase of elections.