New Delhi, May 7 (PTI) In an unprecedented move, the Election Commission has started training field-level poll functionaries from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in Tamil language.

As many as 293 participants comprising 264 booth-level officer (BLO) supervisors, 14 electoral registration officers, two district election officers and other functionaries are part of the mixed-batch training programme here.

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In his inaugural address, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the BLOs are the first interface of the EC with the voters and have a vital role in ensuring correct and updated electoral rolls.

With this, nearly 2,300 participants have benefited from intensive training programmes being organised by the poll panel during the last few weeks.

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The ongoing two-day event is in line with the expansive programme to train election functionaries at all levels, including over one lakh BLOs in the country in the next few years.

The BLO supervisors are being trained through interactive sessions and role plays, to ensure accurate filling of various forms. They are being equipped as Assembly Level Master Trainers to train other BLOs.

The participants were also familiarised with the provisions of first and second appeals against the final published electoral rolls with the District Magistrate (DM or an officer of equivalent rank) and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state or UT respectively.

No appeals were filed from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry after the completion of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) exercise in January this year.

The terms of the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry legislative assemblies end in May and June next year.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)