“No voter to be left behind”

OBSERVER HAND BOOK

VOLUME -I

September 2019
Document 13 - Edition 5

Hkkjr fuokZpu vk;ksx

Election Commission of India
Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001
“ No voter to be left behind”
All important instructions along with the soft copy of the handbook are available
on the Commission’s website. Links are given below:

https://observerseci.eci.nic.in/Observerinstruction.html
&
https://eci.gov.in/files/category/3-handbooks/

NOTE:: Contents of the Observer Hand Book are set of instructions extracted
from the directions/orders of the Commission, however, the Observer Hand Book
is indicative and new/updated/modified instructions/orders/directions are issued
by various divisions of the Commission from time to time. You are, therefore,
requested to consult the Commission/ Chief Electoral Officer concerned in case
of any specific query/doubt.

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 “No voter to be left behind”

OBSERVER HAND BOOK

September 2019

Hkkjr fuokZpu vk;ksx

Election Commission of India
Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001
“ No voter to be left behind”
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 “No voter to be left behind”

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Background 1
2. Statutory Basis of Appointment 1
3. Overview of Observer’s Duty 2
4. Briefing of Observers 3
5. Tours and Absence from Headquarters 3
6. Requests for Leave 4
7. Observer Portal 4
8. Role of Observers 5
A. Nominations, Withdrawal,Scrutiny and Symbol Allotment 6
B. Electoral Roll Related 7
C. Campaign Period 7
D. Pre-Poll Election Management 8
E. Poll Day Management 9
F. Post Poll 10
G. Counting 10
9. Reports by Observers 10
10. Postal Ballot for Observers 12
11. Arrival of Observers in the Constituencies 12
12. Interface of ROs/AROs And DEO 12
13. Scrutiny of Nomination Papers 13
14. Allotment of Symbols 14
15. Electoral Rolls 15
16. Meeting with the Candidates 16
17. Visit of Areas in the Constituency and Polling Stations 17
18. Review of Overall Preparedness of Law & Order Machinery 17

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19. Observation of Implementation of Model Code of Conduct 18
20. Approach of the Observer in Implementation of
Model Code of Conduct 19
21. Watch on Expenditure Incurred on Election Campaign
by the Candidates/ Political Parties 22
22. Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) 28
23. Expenditure Monitoring Control Room and Call Centre 29
24. District Media Cell 29
25. Preparation of Polling Parties and Training 29
26. Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) 30
27. Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) 31
27a Radomization of EVM and VVPATs 31
28. Preparations for Date of Poll 32
29. Visit to Dispatch Centers 32
30. Micro Observers 32
31. Special Observers 33
32. Poll Day Activities 33
33. Reception of Polling Parties 34
34. Scrutiny of Register of Voters and Other Documents 35
35. Re-Poll and Adjourned Poll Cases 35
36. End of Poll Report 36
37. Counting of Votes 36
i. Counting Arrangements Report 40

38. General Observer Report 41

a. The First Report (Immediately after the Withdrawal
of Candidature) 41
b. The Second Report (On P-2 Days) 45
c. The Third Report (Immediately after the End of the Poll 49
d. The Fourth Report (Immediately after the Scrutiny of
17 A (Register of Voters) and Other Documents on the
Day after the Poll) 51
e. The Fifth Report (Immediately after Counting of Votes) 52

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 “No voter to be left behind”

39. Police Observer Report 54

A. The First Report (on 2nd Day of Reaching the 54
Allocated District)
B. The Second Report (On the 5th Day of Reaching 57
the Allocated District)
C. The Third Report ( 2 Days Before Poll) 58
D. The Fourth Report (To be Sent Immediately after Polls 61
are Over in the District)
40. Dos And Don’ts for Observers 62
41. Review Points for Central Observers 68
42. New IT Initiatives 72
43. Annexure-I (Checklist for DEO And RO) 75
44. Annexure-II (Arrival/Departure Report) 83

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1. BACKGROUND

1. Different democracies have different types of Election Observation. The

Election Observation includes the observation by domestic Observers as
well as Observers by external agencies such as United Nations,
Commonwealth, and other external election watch groups and so on.
However, in the Indian context, the election Observation has always been a
domestic initiative. The concept of election observation by the domestic
Observers itself has been evolved over a period of time, as the complaints
during the election process were far and few in the initial years. There was
no concept of deputing Election Observers from one State to another State.
Initially, as and when complaints were received, some officials from the
Election Commission’s headquarters were deputed. Over a period of time
the number of complaints gradually increased, however, the deputation of
Election Commission’s officials had a serious limitation.

2. Commission started deputing some senior officials from the same State to
observe election process in a constituency or a group of constituencies. But
the concept of deputing senior officers as the Election Commission’s
Observers took a firm root only from the beginning of the year 1990s. Over
a period of nearly last two decades, the deputation of Election Observers
from one State to another State has become an integral part of the election
management in the country. Currently, mostly the officers who belong to All
India Services and Central Services like IRS, CBDT and CBEC, IDES are
being deputed as the election observers.

2. STATUTORY BASIS OF APPOINTMENT

1. Observers of the Election Commission of India are appointed under the

powers conferred on it by Section 20B of the Representation of the People
Act, 1951 and the plenary powers available to the Commission under the
Constitution of India. They are the appointees of the Commission working
under the superintendence, control and discipline of the Commission for the
period from their appointment until the process of election is completed.

2. The Representation of the People Act, 1951 was amended in August, 1996 to
add a new Section 20B. This provides statutory powers to the Observers to
watch the conduct of elections and especially in respect of counting of votes.

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 3. Section 20B reads as follows: - “1[20B. Observers.-

(1) The Election Commission may nominate an Observer who shall be an officer of
Government to watch the conduct of election or elections in a constituency or a
group of constituencies and to perform such other functions as may be entrusted
to him by the Election Commission.

(2) The Observer nominated under sub-section (1) shall have the power to direct the
returning officer for the constituency or for any of the constituencies for which he
has been nominated, to stop the counting of votes at any time before the declaration
of the result or not to declare the result if in the opinion of the Observer booth
capturing has taken place at a large number of polling stations or at places fixed
for the poll or counting of votes or any ballot papers used at a polling station or
at a place fixed for the poll are unlawfully taken out of the custody of the
returning officer or are accidentally or intentionally destroyed or lost or are
damaged or tampered with to such an extent that the result of the poll at that
polling station or place cannot be ascertained.

(3) Where an Observer has directed the Returning Officer under this section to stop
counting of votes or not to declare the result, the Observer shall forthwith report
the matter to the Election Commission and thereupon the Election Commission
shall, after taking all material circumstances into account, issue appropriate
directions under Section 58A or Section 64A or Section 66.

Explanation.- For the purposes of sub-section (2) and sub-section (3),

“ Observer” shall include a Regional Commissioner or any such officer of the
Election Commission as has been assigned under this section the duty of watching
the conduct of election or elections in a constituency or group of constituencies by
the Commission.

3. OVERVIEW OF OBSERVER’S DUTY

1. By dint of their seniority and long experience in the administrative services,

General and Police Observers are expected to be in a position to assist the
Commission in the conduct of free and fair polls.

2. They will also be able to oversee the efficient and effective management of
the electoral process at the field level.

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 3. For all purposes, they will act as the eyes and ears of the Commission during
the period of the election (and not the mouthpiece) and provide direct inputs
to the Commission from the field as an interface with the election machinery
the candidates, political parties, and electors to ensure that the Acts, rules,
procedures, instructions and guidelines related to elections are strictly and
impartially complied with by all concerned.

4. Their inputs/observations are confidential and solely for the use of the
Commission and not for any other agency including media. They must not,
therefore, interact with or respond to the queries of the Press even after the
elections are over.

5. It is clarified that while the formal report/input/observation sent by the

Observers are meant for the use of the Commission, it does not mean that
the observers will not discuss with the CEO/RO/DEO about their observation
on various aspects of election management in order to facilitate midcourse
corrections.

6. However, the Observers shall not mark copies of their formal reports to the
Commission, to any other person including CEO/RO/DEO.

7. It should be kept in mind that the objective of the deputation of the Observer
is not to find fault but to facilitate field administration in ensuring a free and
fair poll.

4. BRIEFING OF OBSERVERS

1. The appointment of an officer as an Observer and the intimation for the

briefing meeting shall be communicated by the ECI through the nodal officer
of the State and Central Government who shall coordinate with Election
Commission for various issues including provision of list of officers for
appointment as observers. No request for exemption shall be entertained for
this meeting and any replacement should be done only with the permission
of ECI. Replacement requests shall not be entertained without serious
reasons.

5. TOURS AND ABSENCE FROM HEADQUARTERS

1. All Observers should seek prior permission from the Commission every time
they want to leave the headquarters on personal work or on official work not
connected with performance of their duties as Observers.

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 2. Any request in this regard for special permission shall be made to the Deputy
Election Commissioner (in charge of the State/UT).

3. No Observer is allowed to go on a foreign trip during the period intervening

between the briefing session and the completion of election process.

4. No requests in this regard should be made to the Commission. Only in case

of receipt of late intimation about selection to attend a foreign training,
which had been duly sponsored by the DOPT may recommend release of
such officer by substituting an officer of equivalent or high rank.

5. All such requests shall be addressed by the respective Nodal Officers to the
Commission.

6. REQUESTS FOR LEAVE

1. No officer appointed as Observer or kept in Reserve List shall proceed on

any kind of leave without prior approval of the Commission till the completion
of the election in Constituency (ies) in which officer has been appointed as
Observer or for which Observer has been kept in reserve.

2. All correspondence in this regard shall be addressed to Deputy Election

Commissioner (in charge of the State) by name.

7. OBSERVER PORTAL

1. A web portal has been made for observers. Link to the Observer Portal is
given on the website of the Commission (http://www.eci.nic.in).

2. Observers have been communicated their user ID and Password in the briefing
letter. They must change their password when they login for the first time.

3. Observer Portal is the best method of communication between Observers

and the Commission.

4. All the latest instructions of the Commission are available on the portal.
Message for Observers are also given on the message board of the portal.

5. Observers should, therefore, check the portal frequently. Similarly, observers

should send their reports to the Commission by uploading on the Observers
Portal.

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 6. Observers may give their mobile no. on portal so that notifications may be
sent to the mobile for timely action by Observers.

7. In case of any issues regarding login in the portal/ change in mobile no. /
change in email id Observer can directly can on the exclusive land line no.
011- 25806410.

8. ROLE OF OBSERVERS

1. Section 20B of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 has vested the
Observers with some statutory powers. They are empowered to direct RO to
stop counting or not to declare for the reasons specified in Section 20B.

Besides the above-mentioned statutory powers, they have got certain very
important roles to play which include: -

a) Observing the processes of scrutiny of nominations and withdrawal

of candidature by the RO, and Report back to the Commission
promptly in case of any irregularity;

b) Examination of the video clipping of the nomination process as

well as making proper investigation on the complaints received in
connection with the process of nomination. Also to examine the
unresolved grievances by the candidate/ political parties about the
allotment of symbols;

c) Effective monitoring of implementation of MCC and detecting cases

of violation of the model code of conduct by watching the video
clippings of various meetings and, if needed, even by visiting
important rallies to get first hand input, enforcement of the defacement
of property act, training of Micro-Observers and such other things;

d) Though checking the account of expenditure of the candidates is

entrusted to Expenditure Observers, however, General Observer
are also required to do so, in case of exigencies, if directed by the
Commission.

e) Tracking dispatch of postal ballot papers to the service voters,

ensuring the setting up of the facilitation counters for polling
officials, police and security personnel etc., in accordance with the

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 recent guidelines of the Commission and sending specific report in
this regard to the Commission.

f) Checking randomization software, reviewing the process of

randomization of the polling personnel, obtaining report from the
DEO regarding first level randomization; and

g) Observing and regulating the counting process. Observer has to sign

the round wise counting sheets as proof of his/her satisfaction.
She/he can direct the Returning Officer to stop counting of votes
or declaration of result, if she/he notices any irregularities and bring
the matter to the notice of the Commission for further directions.

2. Apart from the direct executive role of the observer, as enlisted above,
Observers are expected to observe and report on all the steps involved in
election management. An illustrative list is as below:

A. Nominations, Scrutiny ,Withdrawal and Symbol allotment

I. The General Observers, arrive on the last day of nomination and thus does
not observe the process of nomination in person, however, during the first
visit they should get the video recording of the nomination process from
the RO and see the recordings to get and overview of compliance of ECI
Instructions and report major violations, if any, with specific reference to
Commission’s instructions regarding number of people allowed to be
present during Nominations.

II. Scrutiny is a quasi-judicial process and should be conducted by the RO

without any outside influence. However, Observer can ensure that RO is
aware of the latest instructions; he has the latest list of disqualified
candidates and the latest symbol order.

The Observer should observe the scrutiny process and report glaring error
to the Commission. The observer should send tabular information of all
rejected cases with reasons thereof. Observers should, however, abstain from
directing or advising the RO. Observer may remind RO that the scrutiny
proceedings can be adjourned in case an opportunity is to be provided or if
any legal provision needs to be examined that requires time.

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III. Allotment of symbol is a process that is very technical and requires due care.
It should be ensured that RO is aware of the provision of issue of reserved
symbols and free symbols. He should have the latest list of political parties
and election symbols. Another important aspect to be kept in mind is the
symbol concession orders issued by Commission. After allotment of
symbols, the list of contesting candidates should be prepared in Form 7A.

B. Electoral Roll Related

I. It should be ensured the EPICs prepared during the last days are properly
distributed to the electors and are not left with some intermediary.

II. Although no deletions can be made from the roll, absentee and dead and
duplicate voters should still continue to be tracked and a separate list of such
voters should be prepared Polling Station-wise that can be used on the day of
Poll.

III. The last supplement is prepared after the date of withdrawal by manually
marking the mother roll and previous supplement based on the last supplement.
This activity has to be closely observed and ensured that efforts have been
made to avoid any mistakes at this stage.

IV. It should be ensured that the copies given to the candidates are exactly the
same as that which would be used on the poll day by the polling party.
Observer should see the latest instructions of the Election Commission,
dated 11.12.2013 on this matter.

C. Campaign Period

I. During the campaign period, General Observers should monitor the

implementation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and measures to prevent
occurrence of electoral offenses. In this regard, the Observers should bring
lapse to the notice of DEO, CEO and report to the Commission, if required
but abstain from any executive action on their part.

II. Meeting with candidates to explain the provisions of Model Code of

Conduct and the instructions of Commission thereunder.

III. Observe various events like political meets, visits of star campaigners etc.

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IV. Monitor the work done by teams constituted for enforcement of MCC.

V. Monitor dummy candidates, surrogate advertisements and paid news.

VI. Review video recordings of activities of those candidates for whom video
trailing has been resorted to.

D. Pre-Poll Election Management

I. Monitor preparation of dispatch of postal ballot papers to service voters

immediately after the preparation of list of contesting candidates i.e. Form
7-A.

II. The first randomization of the election staff is done before the Observers
arrive. The second and third randomization is, however, done in the presence
of Observers.
III. First level of EVMs/VVPATs randomization is done before the arrival of the
Observer but the second level randomization is done in the presence of Observers.
Training is an activity on which special emphasis should be provided.
Observers should monitor that proper training is arranged for the election
staff, especially with regard to recent instructions of EC and related to
operation of EVMs/VVPATs.
Monitor adherence to the instructions of the Commission regarding issue of
postal ballot papers to the polling staff and voting through them.
Visit polling stations and monitor that all polling stations are visited by
election official for verification from fitness angle. Verify whether the list of
polling stations is approved by the Commission and the assured minimum
basic facilities have been provided.

VII. Go through the exercise of Vulnerability mapping and identification of

critical booths and critical clusters done by the DEO/SP and finalize and list
of critical polling stations and critical clusters.

VIII. Discuss and approve the District Security Plan with the DEO and the SP and
review the law and order issue in general. Review the availability of CPF, SAF

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 “No voter to be left behind”

and District Police. Review the preventive measures taken by the law and
order implementation machinery.

IX. Review the Communication Plan and confirm dry runs.

X. Review Control Room arrangement and complaint monitoring system.

XI. Training and placement of Micro Observers

XII. Ensure that proper arrangements for dispatch have been made. The dispatch
should normally be on the day before the poll and any exception should have
prior approval of the Commission.

XIII. Review counting arrangements.

E. Poll Day Management

I. Monitor placement of Sector Officers and Micro Observers.

II. Monitor conduct of mock polls and receipt of mock poll certificate in
prescribed format signed by PO. Review the polling stations with no or only
one polling agent.

III. Review the pace of poll and percentage of polling at regular intervals.

IV. Keep track of occurrence of any special events during the poll day.

V. Keep track of any delays or temporary suspension of poll.

VI. Report anything exceptional to the CEO and the Commission.

VII. Ensure that proper arrangements for receipt of polling staff and polling
material are made. Every receiving team should be well equipped with a
checklist of items to be received. Ensure that the non-statutory documents
are not locked with the EVMs/VVPATs in that strong room.

VIII. Ensure that a “special counter” is setup for receipt of polling parties from
those polling stations where any special events has been reported and on
receipt, proper documentation, along with the statement/report of the
Presiding Officer, if required, is done.

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 F. Post Poll

I. Scrutiny of documents relating to poll is an important analytical tool to

analyze proper conduct of elections and taking re-poll decision. Scrutiny is
done for those polling stations that fall within the criteria as per Commission’s
instructions in the presence of Observer on the next day of the poll.

II. Report to the Commission about the conduct of poll and requirement of
re-poll, if any.

G. Counting

I. Review the arrangements for counting made by the DEO.

II. The randomization of counting staff is done in the presence of Observer.

III. Monitor that the counting of postal ballot taken up before the EVMs but the
EVM counting is not held up till the completion of postal ballot counting.

IV. The Observer has to ensure that the results as tabulated by the counting staff
and the additional counting staff, drawn from the central government
estal- ishment, tally.

V. Conduct random test for two EVMs in every round and take corrective
action as per the directions of ECI, in case any mistakes are found.

VI. Ensure that during the counting, round-wise results are announced as and
when they are finalized.

VII. Certify proper completion of counting process and allow RO to declare

results, if satisfied with the counting process.

VIII. Report cases of recount to the Commission.

9. REPORTS BY OBSERVERS

1. Both General and Police Observers are required to submit arrival and departure
report to the Commission immediately after reaching constituency(ies)/
District and also, just before leaving the constituency(ies) / District. (Format
of the arrival/departure report is attached at Annexure-II).

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2. Apart from the arrival and departure reports, the Commission, now, expects
5 mandatory reports from the General Observers and 4 mandatory reports
from Police Observers against the previously required 6 and 5 reports
respectively. However, in case of any serious deviations, the Observers
should bring it to the notice of ECI through interim report(s) as and when
necessary.

3. In case of General Observers –

I. 1st Report – To be submitted immediately after the withdrawal of

candidature.

II. 2nd Report - To be submitted 2 days before the poll-day (P-2 days).

III. 3rd Report – To be submitted immediately after the completion of

poll.

IV. 4th Report- To be submitted after scrutiny of form 17A on the day
after the poll.

V. 5th Report- To be submitted after the counting of the votes.

4. In case of Police Observers-

I. 1st Report- To be submitted on the 2nd day of reaching the allocated

district.

II. 2nd Report- To be submitted on the 5th day of reaching the allocated
district.

III. 3rd Report- To be submitted 2 days before the poll day (P-2 days).

IV. 4th Report- To be submitted immediately after the completion of

poll.

5. Oral communication with the Commission, on urgent matters which

cannot be kept pending till the written report, through telephone or through
any other fast and reliable means, during the field visit will be welcome. All
telephonic communication should preferably be held with the Secretary
concerned and must be followed by a written message in confirmation.

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10. POSTAL BALLOT FOR OBSERVERS

1. Rules 17 to 20 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 provide that voters

on election duty are entitled to vote by post. The term “Voters on Election
Duty” includes a public servant, who is an elector in the constituency and is
by reason of his/her being on election duty, is unable to vote at the polling
station where he/she is entitled to vote. Observers are also covered in this
category. As Commission does not appoint any officer as observer in the
Home State/State of posting.

2. If an Observer is registered as an elector in any constituency, he/she can

apply for a postal ballot paper to the Returning Officer of the Constituency
concerned in Form 12. The Observers may write or contact the Returning
Officer of the Constituency concerned and present his/her duly filled in
Form 12, to obtain a Postal Ballot Paper.

11. ARRIVAL OF OBSERVERS IN THE CONSTITUENCIES

1. The Observer is mandated to report in the constituency on the last day of

filing of nominations in forenoon.

2. The DEO may appoint an English knowing officer as the liaison officer for
the Observer and the liaison officer receive the Observer at the point of his/
her arrival in the State and escort him/her to the place of stay.

3. The DEO has to make arrangements for accommodation, vehicle and

communication, like Internet, fax, office stationery etc.

4. The information/particulars as enumerated in the check list (Annexure-I) are

to be provided to the Observer on his/her arrival along with the District
Election Plan and a map, by the DEO/RO.

12. INTERFACE OF ROs/AROs AND DEO

1. The DEO will organize a structured meeting with the Observers as early as
possible. All the ROs, AROs, SP, other election officials including the nodal
officers for media cell, model code of conduct and the designated officers
for Expenditure monitoring should be present in the meeting to apprise the
Observers about the specific issues needing their special attention.

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 2. The Observer should proactively use this meeting to familiarize with the state
of preparedness of the district administration in all aspects.

3. The Observer should monitor that:

(i) The posting of requisite officers for RO and ARO has been completed
(including for counting)

(ii) The identification of all the venues, which will be used for dispatching,
receiving and counting, has been done and reviewed.

(iii) The list of polling stations has been finalized.

(iv) The machinery to monitor and implement model code of conduct

and for election expenditure monitoring is in place.

(v) The primary list of polling personnel has been prepared.

(vi) The arrangements for receiving information from public and political
parties-control room arrangements and inter coordination of police
and DEO, RO control rooms, has been made.

4. After reviewing the check list (Annexure-I) the Observer shall take up the
matter with the ECI, if any deficiency is found in the election preparedness.

13. SCRUTINY OF NOMINATION PAPERS

1. The Observer is expected to observe the scrutiny process and finalization of

the contesting candidates after withdrawal very closely. The role of Observer
in scrutiny is to observe the events, rather than guide formally. However, in
a situation where there is some confusion, the observer shall report to the
Commission but under no circumstances shall give instructions to the RO.

2. The Observers are expected to be present during the Scrutiny of Nominations.

However, before the scrutiny, it is important that the Observers verify from
the Returning Officers the availability of latest instructions and orders of
the Commission, which are specifically relevant for the Returning Officers in
discharging their statutory functions for scrutinizing the nominations.

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 3. The following items are important:

(a) The latest list of “Political Parties and Election Symbols” published
by the Commission.
(b) Commission’s instructions on criminalization of politics and the
latest Form of Affidavits, which will accompany every nomination
form (ECI Instruction No. 3/ER/2003/JS-II dated 27th March,
2003 read with Instruction No. 3/ ER/2011/SDR dated 25th
February, 2011 , No. 3/4/ 2012/ SDR dated 24th August, 2012 and
Order no. 509/11/2004-JS.I dated 3rd Feb 2016) as amended from
time to time.
(c) The latest copy of the List of Disqualified Persons.
(d) Instructions and copies of latest versions of Forms A&B which are
utilized by the political parties to indicate the names of their official
candidates who are eligible for being allotted the symbol reserved
for the party.
(e) An authentic copy of the Electoral Roll for the constituency.
4. It is important for the Observers to go through these instructions carefully
in advance before they interact with the Returning Officers. They will
confirm that Returning Officers have not only received the latest instructions
but have understood the implications clearly.

5. As the nomination and scrutiny have been mandated to be done through

suvidha application, the observer must ensure that all nominations are 100%
digitized, correctly enter and correctly scrutinize.

14. ALLOTMENT OF SYMBOLS

1. Immediately after the process of withdrawal of nominations is completed,

the Returning Officers are to take up the process of Allotment of Symbols.
The Observers will be available for overseeing this important activity. The
RO should have the latest list of Political Parties and Election Symbols and
any relevant symbol concession orders issued by the Commission with regard
to political parties not recognized in the particular State but recognized in
some other State and orders regarding allotment of Common Symbol to
registered unrecognized parties.

2. As soon as the allotment of symbols is completed, a List of Contesting

Candidates and Symbols allotted to them is prepared and published in Form

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 7A Special care should be taken regarding order in which the names of
candidates appear in the list and Commission’s instructions in this regard
should be strictly adhered to. This is a very important document and it is of
utmost importance that copies of the same reach the Chief Electoral Officer
at the earliest. The Returning Officers will make arrangements to send the
original copy to the Chief Electoral Officer in the State /Union Territory
through special messenger. The latter will consolidate these and send it
through special messenger or camp bag to the Commission.

3. In case of Parliament election, the Commission publishes a Consolidated

List of Contesting Candidates in English and Hindi. It is likely that some of
the nominations may be filed in the local language. The Returning Officer
will nevertheless prepare two sets of the copies of the Form 7A in English
and Hindi and ensure that these are sent to the Commission through the
process aforementioned. However, if the RO is unable to prepare the Hindi
version, this can be left to the CEO who will get it done at his level. In any
case, the English version and the version in the local language should invariably
be sent by the ROs. In case of Assembly election, the CEO of the State
publishes it in the official language of the State.

15. ELECTORAL ROLLS

1. Several complaints have been received in the Commission that during past
elections the electoral rolls provided at the polling booths were different
from the electoral rolls that were provided to the candidates. The Commission
has viewed such complaints with concern and decided as follows:

(a) The electoral roll supplied to the polling booths shall be certified to
be true copy of the one that has been provided to the candidates /
political parties and the marked copy kept by the Returning Officer
as per Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 by one officer and one
subordinate to the specifically responsible for the purpose.

(b) These officers shall sign the electoral roll supplied to the polling
booths, on all pages.

(c) A copy of the electoral roll, which will be used on the day of
election at polling booths (copy of the one given to the candidates
/ political parties), shall also be given to the Observer. The Observer

15
 shall check the authenticity of the roll provided at polling booths
vis-à-vis the roll given to the candidates on the day of poll at the
polling stations visited by him/her. The Observers will discuss this
subject thoroughly with the RO and ensure that there is no room
for any complaint on this score. This aspect should also be explained
to the candidates and political parties during discussion.

2. The Observers should monitor the action plan prepared for covering the
residual electors, issue of EPIC, identification of electors absent without
family linkage, expired electors and duplicate entries and preparation of poll
ing station wise list of such entries. Commission has mandated that if any
elector figuring out in this list appears for voting, the strict identity checks
should be applied.

16. MEETING WITH THE CANDIDATES

The RO should conduct a meeting in the presence of Observer with all the contesting
candidates and party representatives on the last day of withdrawal or on the next day
and brief them about –

a) Important aspects of the model code of conduct,

b) Expenditure reporting formats, rate list etc. and frequency of reporting

required, time and place of reporting of expenditure,

c) Issuance of permissions for vehicles, processions and public meetings

d) Date and time of EVM/VVPAT preparation and candidates’ role in it.

Candidates should also be briefed about the working of VVPAT system.

e) Interaction of Observers with the candidates/political parties/electors (with

specific details of time, contact numbers and place for meeting the Observers).

f) Important aspects of conduct of elections (like appointment of polling

agent, counting agent, election agent – their rights & duties).

g) The Observers should explain the concept of worry list. Wherever a candidate
has apprehension about any unfair practice, procedural lapse, he will bring
them to the notice of the Observer through the worry list indicating details
of polling centers and reasons for such apprehension.
h) Latest instructions of the Commission or important changes from past
practices should be brought to the knowledge & notice of candidates.

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 i) The Observer should explain clearly about c-VIGIL app for the model code of
conduct violation reporting, EMS app for randomization of EVM machines,
suvidha app for applying for permissions and suvidha candidate app to monitor
the status of permission and candidature.

17. VISIT OF AREAS IN THE CONSTITUENCY AND POLLING

STATIONS

1. After finalization of contesting candidates by the RO, the Observer should

visit as many polling stations (areas thereof) to understand the constituency
in social, economic and political context. During their visits, the Observers
shall definitely visit all new polling station, sensitive polling stations and
distant polling stations.

18. REVIEW OF OVERALL PREPAREDNESS OF LAW & ORDER

MACHINERY

1. The Observer should have a detailed discussion at a mutually convenient

time not later than 4 days of his/her arrival about the following.

(a) Adequacy of police personnel,

(b) Requirement of Central Forces,

(c) Preventive actions taken (preventive detentions, bonds & arms

deposition)

(d) Identification of critical clusters and polling stations through

vulnerability mapping

(e) Sector plans for policing on the day of poll,

(f) Response strategy on the day of poll and transportation of

EVMs/VVPATs, and

(g) Discussion about sensitivity of inter-district, national and international

boundaries.

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 2. The vulnerability index mapping of the district should have been completed.
The Observer should ensure whether this has been done and critical clusters
and polling stations are identified. The sector plan for police patrolling and
the requirement for additional force should be reviewed in thiscontext.

3. The distilleries in the district should be monitored for the stock position of
liquor and any abnormal increase in outflow during the election period
should be checked. This should be compared to the average of the last
six months.

19. OBSERVATION OF IMPLEMENTATION OF MODEL CODE

OF CONDUCT

1. It has been the most important and crucial task of Observers to ensure
non- partisan and effective implementation of Model Code of Conduct.

2. The main areas for strict vigil are: -

(a) Use of vehicles for campaigning without required permission,

(b) Use of muscle power to mobilize or restrain people from voting,

(c) Flow of liquor and money and ‘gifts’ to ensure voting in favor of a
particular candidate,

(d) Divisive tactics through inflammatory and condemnable speeches/

acts, and

(e) Dealing with defacement of property as per prevailing law, if any, of

the state, in case of absence of any such law as per the latest instruction
of the ECI.

3. To ensure effective enforcement, the Observer should check whether the

enforcement squads are formed with clear territorial jurisdiction to have
accountability. The teams of enforcement should consist of civil and police
personnel.

4. A detailed instruction in this regard is available in Commission’s Website in

the link given below: http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/current/MCC1_26122016.pdf

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 5. All teams should have c-VIGIL investigation app installed and running and that
the disposal of each violation reported through the c-VIGIL application is
addressed by the enforcement team. The c-VIGIL observer should install the
c-VIGIL observer app and continuously monitor c-VIGIL case in his jurisdiction

20. APPROACH OF THE OBSERVER IN IMPLEMENTATION

OF MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT

1. The approach of observer should be to get the complaint inquired by DEO/

RO through the inquiry officer and tracking how the inquiry is conducted
and how the concurrent corrective measure is affected. The Observer should
advise the RO/DEO about the violations and appropriate action to be taken.
However, in case of lapses on part of the authorities even after advice of the
Observers, the Observers should immediately communicate lapses to the
ECI. Observer should use videography as an effective tool to implement
Model Code of Conduct.

2. Observers are eyes and ears of the ECI and not the executives in the field.
There are several instances where implementation of Model Code of
Conduct has been handled for the same issue in different manner in different
constituencies. Some instances are given as case studies to sensitize you to
this aspect-

Situation A

An Observer found a vehicle with a party flag and lot of workers with a
microphone campaigning for a candidate without a permit.

a. He detains the vehicle with the help of his PSO and calls for the
police and orders them to take a particular action, issues a specific
instruction in writing.

b. He reports the matter on phone to the concerned SP and

subsequently writes a letter and warrants an ATR from the SP and
RO. In case of non- action, the lapse is reported to ECI.

c. He gives an instruction to immediately arrest the people in the

vehicle to the police in writing.

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 The ECI would appreciate the option ‘b’ in this case. However, to
ensure ripple effect, the incident and the action taken should be
publicized in the media to create further deterrence through the RO.
In any case the Observer is not expected to interact and brief the
media personally.

Situation B

There is a complaint from a particular political party that there is possession

of illegal arms in a particular location by another contesting party. The
complaining party does not disclose the location and requests for a police
party to raid in a location to be specified later.

a. The Observer agrees to the demand and orders the SP to send a

police party.

b. The Observer takes the complaint and location confidentially, asks

the SP to act on it and report back. He also sends a videography
team with the police party

c. The Observer takes the police party and goes to the specified
location and raids it.

The ECI would recommend the option ‘b’ in this case a observers have to
think and act independently after receiving a complaint and not physically
move with one party or other as that is also seen as partisan.

Situation C

Every party has a list of star campaigners designated who shall be funded
centrally from the party level for their travel and campaigning. One of the
star campaigners deliver inflammatory speeches hurting the sentiments of a
particular section of society and this is widely covered by media at national
and local levels.

a. This episode and the contents of speech is recorded and reported

to ECI and at the same time appropriate action by the Election
machinery has been initiated. The Action Taken is proportionate to
the gravity of the lapse.

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 b. This episode is not reported to ECI and action has been initiated at
the local level which is covered by local media.

c. It was not acted against at all.

The ECI would recommend option ‘a’ as the lapse is being covered by na tional media
and the damage is no more localized and therefore the non- reporting of this even to
ECI shall have negative effect on the general scenario of elections at the national
level.

Situation D

An observer witnesses that a public property has been defaced by posters, which is
serious violation of model code of conduct. He had to deal with this.

a. The Observer gets out of the vehicle and tears the posters himself.

b. He informs the RO and asks the RO to send the enforcement squad

responsible for territorial jurisdiction. He documents the violation
through videography. After a day or two checks whether that
violation has been dealt with and also ensures booking of that
expenditure in the accounts.

The option ‘b’ is the desired response. ECI encourages effective observation
rather than self-implementation of the Model Code of Conduct.

3. ECI envisages appropriate and timely action against lapses and at the same
time proportionate flow of this information of action taken to the appropriate
levels like local, district, State and national level to have a deterrence effect.

4. Every move of campaigning has an implication of election expenditure. The

Observers are expected to correlate all the permissions taken and the
expenditure statements submitted. In case of some expenditure not being
reported, the standard rates prevailing in the district should be adopted.

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21. WATCH ON EXPENDITURE INCURRED ON ELECTION
CAMPAIGN BY THE CANDIDATES/POLITICAL PARTIES

1. The Commission appoints separate Expenditure Observers to monitor

election expenses. For the purpose a separate manual/ guidelines has been
prepared by ECI. The observers should familiarize themselves with the
expenditure monitoring guidelines.

2. Past experiences indicate that use of money power starts right from the
distribution of tickets by the political parties. Subsequently, it takes various
forms, which are enlisted herein below. However, it must be kept in mind that
the enlisted ways of spending money are only indicative. There can be many
other ways of spending money which should engage the attention of the
Observers.

a) Booth-wise agents are appointed to purchase floating votes;

b) Large donations to clubs and organizations to influence its

members;

c) Largesse to petty party workers to dole out the same to electors;

d) Rented crowds for party meetings;

e) Rallies and campaigns with purchasable crowd;

f) Presence of candidates at social occasions like mass weddings, feasts,

puja’s, jagrans, inaugurals, etc. where gifts are given on behalf of
candidates;

g) Acceptance of felicitations by the contesting candidates at any

educational or charitable organizations;

h) Distribution of free liquor/liquor passes to the electors;

i) Use of dummy candidates at election to utilize his quota of

electioneering vehicles, etc.

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 j) Surrogate advertisementsin print and electronic media whereby
candidature is canvassed by unconnected persons/organizations so
as to avoid the expenditure on the same being accounted for in the
expenditure of the contesting candidates;

k) Bringing cinema celebrities and sportspersons to campaign;

l) Providing voters with caps, vests, umbrellas, bi-cycles, etc.

3. It shall be the duty of the Observers to ensure that all the instructions of the
Commission are followed meticulously and there are no aberrations in their
application. It is, therefore, imperative that the Observers should familiarize
themselves with the extant instructions issued by the Commission, a
compendium of which is given in the in observer kit.

4. The gist and highlights of various instructions on the issue of election

expenditure is given hereunder for the benefit of the Observers:

a) Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act 1951 stipulates

that every candidate at an election shall, either by himself or by his
election agent, keep a separate and correct account of all expenditure
in connection with the election between the date on which he has
been nominated and the date of the declaration of the result thereof,
both the dates inclusive.

b) Section 78 of the said Act further stipulates that every contesting

candidate at an election shall within thirty days from the date of the
election of the returned candidate, lodge with the District Election
Officer, an account of the election expenses which shall be a true
copy of all the account kept by him or by his election agent u/s 77.

c) In order to facilitate monitoring of election expenditure, each candidate

is required to open a separate bank account exclusively for the
purpose of election expenditure. This account shall be opened at
least one day before the date on which the candidate files his
nomination papers. All money to be spent on electioneering shall be
deposited in this bank account irrespective of its funding from any
source including candidate’s own fund.

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d) Even if a contesting candidate does not seriously contest the election
for any reason whatsoever and incurs only a nominal expenditure on
his security deposit, etc., he is required by law to lodge his account
of election expenses.

e) Contesting candidates, who fail to comply with the requirement of

law regarding the lodging of account of election expenses, are liable
to be disqualified by the Election Commission u/s 10A of the
Representation of the People Act, 1951 for a period of three years.

f) The Election Commission of India has prescribed a format of the

register which is required to be maintained by the contesting candidates
along with supporting vouchers, bills, etc. arranged in a proper
chronological order.

g) Along with the Register, the Election Commission of India has

prescribed a format of “Abstract of Election Expenses” which has
also to be filled up by the contesting candidates

h) The contesting candidates are further required to furnish an affidavit

along with the “Register of day to day expenses” and “Abstract of
Expenses”

i) The prescribed register/forms/extracts of rules relating to lodging

of returns of accounts of election expenses should be printed and
made available to the contesting candidates in Hindi, English or the
approved local language in which the electoral rolls are printed.

j) The supporting vouchers of the day to day expenses should

necessarily bear the signature in full of the contesting candidate or
his election agent.

k) The register along with the Abstract of expenses and the prescribed
affidavit has to be made available by the contesting candidates for
inspection by the Returning Officer/Designated Officer thrice
before the date of poll. However, it has to be ensured that there is a
gap of about four days in between each inspection and the first
inspection may be on or after the 3rd day from the last date of with
drawal of nominations.

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l) If a candidate is contesting electionfor more than one constituency,
he is required to maintain and lodge a separate account of his
election expenditure in respect of each such constituency.

m) The accounts of the candidate will be scrutinized by the Returning

Officer/ Designated Officers and he shall keep two photocopies of
the relevant pages of the register. One copy of the relevant pages of
the register shall be displayed on the notice board of the Returning
Officer and the other copy will be retained in a separate file for each
constituency as proof of record with the Returning Officer and
furnish to the DEO on conclusion of the whole electoral process.

n) Where a candidate does not produce the register containing his daily
account of election expenses before the designated officer/observer,
despite notice, the DEO shall cause a complaint to be lodged u/s
171-I of the IPC against the errant candidates.

o) Any person desiring a copy of these day-to-day accounts, should be

provided the same by the Returning Officer, subject to the payment
of usual copying charges

p) The candidate, while maintaining their register of accounts of election

expenditure, should also account for all expenditure including those
incurred prior to the date of nomination for preparation of
campaignc material, etc. which are actually used during the post
nomination period in connection with the election.

q) The expenditure incurred by the leaders of the political parties on

account of their travel for propagating the programs of the party
shall NOT be considered as expenditure in connection with election
incurred or authorized by the candidate or his agent, provided the
names of the leaders for this purpose are communicated to the
Commission and the CEO of the State within a period of seven
days from the date of notification of the election

r) In the event of failure of the political party to provide such names

within the stipulated time, the aforesaid expenditure on travel of all
leaders in the case of such parties will necessarily be included in the
account of the election expenses of the candidate concerns.

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s) The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Kanwar Lal Gupta Vs. Amarnath
Chawla (A.I.R. 1975 SC 308) has held that the expenditure incurred
by the political party, as distinguished from expenditure on general
party propaganda, which can be identified with the election of the
given candidate would be liable to be added to the expenditure of
that candidate as being impliedly authorized by the candidate. The
Apex Court has further held that a party candidate does not stand
apart from the political party and if the political party does not want
the candidate to incur the disqualification, it must exercise control
over the expenditure which may be incurred by it directly to promote
the electoral prospects of the candidate.

t) The expenditure on bullet proof cars and all others cars used by all
the Ministers of Union and States and all other leaders of political
parties shall be borne by the candidates.

u) All vehicles (including two-wheelers, motor-bikes, scooters and

mopeds, etc.) being used by the candidates for the election campaign
are required to be lodged with the DEO.

v) Whenever political parties or candidates use aircraft/helicopter for

election campaign, prior information should be given to the CEO
of the state. While giving such information, the following information
also need to be furnished: -

(a) Number of aircrafts/helicopters used;

(b) Name of the hiring companies;

(c) Hire charges paid/payable;

(d) Areas covered;

(e) Number of sorties involved;

(f) Passenger manifest;

w) The expenditure incurred by a political party on advertisements in

connection with the election of a particular candidate or a group of

26
 candidates shall be treated as expenditure authorized by the candidates
concerned and shall be accounted for in the election expenses of the
candidates concerned. In case where the political party for the
benefit of group of candidates incurs the expenditure then the
expenditure is to be apportioned equally amongst the candidates.

x) The expenses on construction of barricades/rostrums etc. when

done initially by the government agencies on account of security
considerations on behalf of the party organizers are to be booked as
expenditure of a candidate in whose constituency the said meeting
takes place or to a group of candidates who are present at the time
when the leader of a political party addresses such a meeting. In
cases where there are more than one candidate of the political party
present at the time of the said meeting of the “leader’, the
expenditure will be apportioned equally amongst all, and the District
Election Officer of the district where such a meeting takes place
shall obtain the final costs from the concerned government agencies
within three days of the event and intimate to the candidates their
private share of expenditure. This information will also be intimated
to the Returning Officer/District Election Officer of the Constituency/
District to which the other candidates belong.

y) Where the aforesaid expenditure are incurred from the organizer’s

own funds, the same will be reflected in the accounts of the
concerned candidates or a group of candidates present in the
meeting of the leader.

z) It has been decided by the Commission that the candidates’ booths

set up outside thepolling stations should hereinafter be deemed to
have been set up by the candidates as part of their individual
campaign and not by way of general party propaganda and as such
all expenditure incurred on such candidate’s booths (kiosks) shall
be deemed to have been incurred/ authorized by the candidate/his
election agent so as to be included in his account ofelection expenses
(not falling under exempted category). The DEOs have to notify the
rates ofthe candidates’ booths set up outside the polling stations
taking into consideration the cost ofinfrastructure used and also the
notional expenses on daily allowances and refreshment etc. to the
party workers manning those kiosks.

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 5. The Observers are advised to familiarize themselves completely with the
aforesaid instructions of the Commission and prevail upon the Designated
Officer to abide by the same. Wherever aberrations are noticed, the
Designated Officers should be encouraged to issue notices through the
Returning Officers to the erring candidates and make a note of the same in
the register whenever they are produced for inspection.

22. MEDIA CERTIFICATION AND MONITORING

COMMITTEE (MCMC):

1. There shall be a Media Certification and Monitoring Committee in each

district. This Committee will have the additional members- (i) DEO/ Deputy
DEO, (ii) DPRO, (ii) Central Govt. I&B Ministry official and (iv) Independent
citizen/journalist as may be recommended by the PCI. Besides carrying out
the already assigned work of certification of advertisements, this Committee
will also monitor both print and electronic media including cable networks,
and record either in CD or DVD, keep a photocopy of all advertisement /
paid news / election related news of the contesting candidates/ political
parties.

2. The DEO will ensure that this Committee is provided with all the national
and local newspapers, having wide circulation in the constituency, three to
four TV sets with connections of all the local and national News channels
and one recording device and separate rooms so that they can watch and
record all the advertisements/discussions related to the election. The
Committee will also look into MCC violations in the Media sphere and send
a report to the DEO with copy to the General Observer. The MCMC shall
see all the newspapers, print media, electronic media, cable network, mobile
network and other modes of mass communication like bulk SMSs etc., and
keep record of the advertisements, advertorials, messages, discussions and
interviews relating to the candidates and parties. This committee will
submit a Daily Report with respect to each candidate to the accounting team
with copy to RO and Expenditure Observer with respect to expenditure
incurred by the candidate on election advertising including the assessed cases
of Paid News, along with supportive paper cuttings/clippings, recordings of
relevant TV and Radio advertisements, which will also be included in the
Shadow Observation Register. The RO will issue notice to the candidate with
regard to the incidents of Paid News in consultation with the Expenditure
Observer for not showing the expenditure on such publication.

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23. EXPENDITURE MONITORING CONTROL ROOM AND
CALL CENTRE
1. A 24x7 Call Centre will be established in the Control Room at the district
level to operate from the date of notification of election. The call center will
be given toll free telephone number with 3 or 4 hunting lines which will
be widely publicized for the public to inform corrupt practices related to
election. A senior officer will be put in-charge of the control room and call
center who will be responsible for receiving and recording the complaints
and passing them on to the respective officer for action without any delay.
The call center will be provided with sufficient staff to man the telephone
lines round the clock.

24. DISTRICT MEDIA CELL

1. The DEO shall create a cell for dealing with media headed by Public Relation
Officer and the main functions shall be-

a. The cell shall collect various clippings about the elections and also
the advertisements from all the newspapers including the vernacular
languages and provide this with translation if required to the
Observer through the liaison officer. This should be done on a
day- to-day basis by the media cell. Liaison officer may do this
exercise depending on the location of the Observer and an
allowance shall be provided for this to the liaison officer.

b. Prepare and circulate the note on various steps initiated during the
day against violations of MCC to the Media. These notes shall not
include any direct quotes to the media by the Observer, and

c. They should also ensure that videography of all the public meetings
are done and passed on to the Observers. They should aid the
Observers in viewing and bringing forth any violations of MCC to
the notice of the Observers.

25. PREPARATION OF POLLING PARTIES AND

TRAINING
1. To ensure transparency, the Commission has formulated a comprehensive
three-stage randomization plan for selection and deployment of polling staff.
In the first stage of randomization, polling staff is randomly selected from a

29
 complete database of all Government employees working in the district. This
process would have been completed before arrival of the Observer. However,
the Observer should examine the outcome of the process and ensure that
the selection has been random.

2. The second stage of randomization is for polling teams and assignment of

the Assembly Constituency to which they shall be deployed. The polling
station to which these teams will be going would be known only after the
third stage of randomization, which is usually done on the day just before
dispatch. For election to Lok Sabha, the Commission has directed that the
polling staff may be randomized within their Parliamentary Constituency, as
far as possible, so that they can vote through EDC.

3. Success of the poll process depends a lot on the quality of training imparted
to the polling staff. Observer should monitor the training process and take
care that:

a) All the staff appointed for poll duty is trained.

b) The trainers are well versed with the election process. It is a good
practice to use the Sector Officers as trainers.

c) Training is imparted in small groups and not very large groups to

ensure that proper focus is maintained.

d) Training covers all aspects of poll management, including EVM(CU,

BU and VVPAT) and Non EVM aspects, Forms and certificates to
be filled by the staff.

e) Special focus should be given to the latest instructions issued by the

Commission since most of the polling staff would be unaware of
them.

26. ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE

1. The Observers will check on the stock of EVMs available in the district and
whether they have been serviced by the engineers of the manufacturing firms
(either ECIL of BEL depending on the make of the machine used in that

30
 State). The Commission issues detailed guidelines to the Chief Electoral
Officers and the District Election Officers for training and awareness
generation on the use of EVMs. It has to be seen whether these training
programs have been taken up properly and the people are aware of the
method of casting vote on the EVM. The training of Presiding Officers and
polling personnel, especially the second polling officer who controls the
“Ballot” button, on the use of EVMs is critical.
2. Observers should familiarize themselves with the latest instructions on
EVM/VVPAT.
27. VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER AUDIT TRAIL SYSTEM (VVPAT)

1. VVPAT was introduced in 2013 to provide even greater transparency to the

poll process. The VVPAT is an additional unit attached to the EVM, which
prints a small slip of paper that carries the symbol, name and serial number
of the candidate voted by Voter, which is visible for 7 (seven) seconds in the
viewing window.
2. The voter after pressing the button on BU can view the printed slip on
VVPAT through the viewing window and thus can verify that the vote is
recorded for the Candidate of his/her choice.
3. These paper slips are automatically cut and stored in a sealed compartment
of VVPAT and can be used later to crosscheck the votes in CU as per the
prescribed procedure by ECI. The printing of slip in VVPAT is an additional
verification to the voter,besides glowing of LED near candidate button and
the beep in EVM system.
27a. Randomization of EVMs/VVPATs
The Commission has also mandated randomization of EVMs/VVPATs to
avoid apprehension of any attempt of manipulation of EVMs/VVPATs. This
randomization is done in twostages. In the firststage, which is done before the
arrival of the Observers, EVMs/VVPATs are allotted to a particular
Constituency and in the second stage, which is done in the presence of the
Observer, an EVM/VVPAT is allotted to a particular polling station.

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28. PREPARATIONS FOR DATE OF POLL

1. Effective checks to curb electoral malpractice or vitiation of the poll process

by way of booth capturing, rigging, creating a scare of fear and panic among
electorate and effectively preventing them from casting their votes are major
concerns.

2. The methods adopted by unscrupulous elements vary from State to State

and from constituency to constituency. The Observers are expected to
familiarize themselves about the tricks of the trade prevalent in the area as
well as identify the specific areas prone to such mischief.

3. The Observers between or amongst them should carefully plan out, in

confidence, the areas, which they would focus on, during the actual period of
poll. This will be kept confidential and is not to be shared with anyone
including the District Election Officers, ROs, Escort and Liaison Officers
and PSOs.

29. VISIT TO DISPATCH CENTERS

The Observers will visit the dispersal centres for dispatching the polling parties to
different location and make a brief report on the manner in which the operations are
being conducted. They will particularly see that the random formation of polling
parties is being truly and correctly implemented.

30. MICRO OBSERVERS

1. The employees of the Central Government/ PSUs are appointed as Micro

Observers. The Micro Observers are expected to observe the polling process
on the day of poll. They are assigned duty in the polling station. They shall
be part of the polling team and be seated in the polling station. They are to
be present in the polling station before the mock poll starts. They shall report
about the poll day in the given format, Report of Micro observers.

2. Micro Observers are to be trained by the Observers two days before the poll
with the help of RO and posted in the polling stations, which are critical.
Therefore, an arrangement is required wherein Micro Observers are
stationed at a central location on the day of polls and they are moved to
specific polling stations as per requirement (like absence of polling agents,
critical polling stations etc.)

32
 3. Micro Observers need not cover all the critical polling stations. They should
be used effectively and not on an extensive basis unless required. The Micro
Observers may be sent with the polling parities in case they are required to
perform duty at remote locations.

31. SPECIAL OBSERVERS

In case of some districts where special circumstances prevail, the ECI may send
Special Observers who shall be working on specific agenda delineated by ECI and
they are on par with the other Observers working in the constituencies. They report
to the ECI directly and have no supervisory role over other Observers. However, to
enable them to get a clear picture of the happenings going on in the constituency, they
are required to discuss and get information from other Observers of the district/
constituency.

32. POLL DAY ACTIVITIES

1. One of the most important responsibilities of the Observers is to oversee

the actual poll. On the date of poll, Observers available in the constituency
should tour the maximum number of booths as is physically possible during
the hours of polling. For this purpose, they will mutually decide as to which
polling stations they will visit on the poll day. Also to save time they may
consider carrying some packed food and start field visits well before the poll
begins. The presence of the Observers in the field on the date of poll and
their visits to polling stations should be an effective deterrent against
electoral malpractice and vitiation of the poll process. The Observers will
ensure prompt and effective action on this score by interacting with the
District Administration constantly through telephone, wireless, VHF Radio
sets etc.

2. Commission has mandated conduct of mock poll before the actual poll
begins to demonstrate proper functioning of the EVM/VVPAT to the
polling agents. To this effect, the Presiding Officer has to sign a certificate
in the format prescribed by the Commission. Observers should
monitor that the mock-polls have been conducted and the POs
have issued the certificate to that effect. Importantly, it should be ensured
that result of mock poll is cleared and Paper Slips of mock poll in
VVPAT Box are removed before commencing poll.

33
 3. They should look for any unusual activity or lack of activity around a polling
station to sense whether any electoral malpractice has vitiated or is likely to
vitiate free and fair polls. Absence of women in the queues may be an
indicator of something unusual. The Observers should in advance study and
acquaint themselves with the pattern of electoral malpractices in the past
elections in different areas. On this basis, they can look for tell tale signs, of
any irregularities. They should constantly remain in touch with the RO, ARO,
Sector Magistrates and other officers on duty to get feedback as well as to
convey anything specific for corrective action to be taken by the concerned
authorities on the basis of what the Observers have actually seen in the field.

4. They should also go inside Polling stations and check for the progress of
polling, the compliance of prescribed procedures by the polling officials in
conducting the poll, the presence of polling agents, the updating of entries in
the Presiding Officer’s diary and such other matters that need verification.
Register of Voters (Form 17A) must be checked with display of total votes
polled on EVM and Observer must sign the visit sheet along with his
observation and record the time of his/her visit. Special attention should be
paid in the case of polling stations where polling agent of only one candidate
is present.

5. The Observers will also take stock of the collection of the EVMs/VVPATs
and the transport of polling parties and polling materials under appropriate
security arrangement. The convoys once started should only stop at the
destination, that is, the strong room where these are to be stored.

6. An important point to be noted is that Form 17C has been completely and
correctly filled in by the Presiding Officer and these are deposited along with
the Presiding Officer’s diary at the collection centres and strong room.

33. RECEPTION OF POLLING PARTIES

1. There is need to focus on polling stations wherein

a. Polling was disrupted temporarily due to EVM failure or any other

reason.

b. Serious complaints were received and

34
 c. Confirmation regarding mock poll certificate not received.

The Returning Officer has to prepare a report of such polling stations

with their names and numbers and send it to DEO and Observer by 4
P.M. and the polled EVMs/VVPATs and other documents pertaining to
these polling stations are to be received in a special counter and not in
the regular counters as a rule. The Presiding Officer’s diaries have to be
checked thoroughly for these polling stations.

2. At the reception centre, it should be ensured that a copy of Form 17-C is

kept with the respective EVM in strong room. Other documents should
not be kept in the EVM/VVPAT strong room. Other document should be
kept separately in a separate strong room to facilitate access when required.

34. SCRUTINY OF REGISTER OF VOTERS AND OTHER

DOCUMENTS

1. In order to deter electoral malpractices, the Commission has directed that

scrutiny of various documents like Presiding Officers diaries, Register of
Voter (Form 17A), Micro Observers reports, Visit Sheets, report of Zonal
Magistrates etc. shall be taken up after completion of poll for polling station
selected on the basis of detailed criteria laid down by the Commission. This
scrutiny shall be taken up at 11:00 AM on the day next to the day of poll.

2. The scrutiny of the Register of Voters and other documents shall be taken
up as laid down by the Commission and the Observer should ensure that
his/her travel plan is so laid out that his/her departure from the constituency
is not before 36 hours after completion of poll.

35. RE-POLL AND ADJOURNED POLL CASES

1. The report of the Observer is the most important input for the Commission
for taking a decision on ordering re-polls. The Observers should therefore
be vigilant and alert about any incident or activity, which might or might have
vitiated the poll process so that they can send a specific report to the
Commission on this matter. Sometimes, information received from other
sources are referred back to the Observers on telephone by the concerned
Secretary or Deputy Election Commissioner and the Observers are expected
to make such enquiries and verification as are possible within the constraints

35
 of the time available. After this and after taking into consideration other
inputs made available to the Commission, re-poll is ordered in such of the
polling stations as is considered necessary and appropriate by the Commission.

2. It is of utmost importance that the re-poll itself is not vitiated in any manner.
The Observers will give specific and comprehensive report on the actual
conduct of re-poll. The re-poll, if any, is normally held on the second day
following the date of poll unless specified otherwise.

36. END OF POLL REPORT

The Observers will send a report in the prescribed form at the end of poll showing
the role of polling agents and the number and nature of complaints received in regard
to each polling station. In addition to this, the Observer has to send a comprehensive
report highlighting all-important factors, in case any re-poll is recommended by him/
her for a particular polling station or a group of polling stations.

37. COUNTING OF VOTES

1. The Commission has prescribed a format for approval of counting centres

and the Returning Officers have been directed to personally inspect each
counting centre and send their proposals to the Commission for its approval.
During the initial stage of their visit, i.e. before the scrutiny of nomination
papers, the Observers will check if the data in the format has been sent to the
Commission for approval by that time.

2. During this very stage of the visit itself, the Observers between them will
also inspect each counting centre for a preliminary assessment of the
facilities in the counting centre and to verify that these are as per specification
prescribed by the Commission. In addition to what is given in the ‘handbook
for Returning Officer’, the recent instructions given by the Commission
should be read by the Observers thoroughly and, on this basis, they will
interact with the Returning Officers to effect any further improvement as
may be necessary for making the arrangements in the counting centres, up to
the standard prescribed by the Commission.

3. One of the most important features relates to provision of specific facilities

for the Observers and media in the counting centres. It is now mandatory for
the Returning Officer to provide a separate room or a cubicle for the

36
 Observer or Observer in each counting centre with one STD telephone and
a fax machine.

4. The Observers will ensure that RO/DEO and the technical staff assisting
them have tested the GENESYS software and are ready for fast transmission
of final result to ECI using this software. They will have to use the password
given to them and transmit the data to ECI. As this data gets loaded to the
website automatically, it is essential that wrong data is not transmitted on the
counting day. Hence doing the “dummy run” on designated date is also
essential.

5. The statutory provisions regarding Observers specifically focus on their role

during the counting process and empower them to stop counting and to
direct the RO/ARO not to declare the result in circumstances mentioned in
Section 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The statute thus
enjoins a special responsibility on the part of the Observers to oversee and
supervise the counting process and also to provide a direct immediate
communication to the Commission. The Commission accordingly expects
that Observers will have a key role in the superintendence of the counting
process.

6. The staff selected for counting has to be randomized on the day of the
counting early morning before the counting begins. The Commission is
particularly concerned that the entire counting arrangement should be
orderly and well structured. The Commission attaches great importance to
the fact that the actual counting is done in such a manner that it is not only
smooth and efficient but more importantly transparent and correct.
Reasonable opportunity is to be afforded, as per existing instructions of the
Commission, to let the counting agents of the candidates get a clear view
of the counting process as it goes on each counting table. There should be
no room for any doubt.

7. The Commission has issued detailed orders regarding the arrangements for
counting. These include the specifications for selections of counting centres
and for managing the counting process.

8. For ensuring accuracy of the result of counting, a round wise statement shall
be prepared by the Returning Officer. Both the Returning Officer and
Observer shall personally verify that number of votes posted against the

37
 name of each candidate in respect of every counting table tally with the
figures as shown in part II of Form 17’C’ (result of counting) pertaining to
that table. They shall append their initial below the total of each counting
table. A copy of the detailed table/wise, polling station-wise, round-wise
break up of the votes will be kept by the Observer in his/her folder.

9. As a measure to cross check the correctness of counting, observers are

required to randomly select two EVMs counted in a round and with the help
of additional counting staff provided to them to assist in this regard
ascertain once again count of votes polled by each candidate and after
getting satisfied, then only countersign the relevant column of proforma for
recording of votes. The Additional Counting staff shall prepare the result of
two randomly selected EVMs in the prescribed proforma for recording of
votes.

10. The tallying process at the end of each round of counting should be
completed in a systematic manner and the round-wise progress announced
within the halls by the concerned ARO-in-charge and also written on black/
white board, which should be clearly visible to all. Immediately thereafter,
this should be announced over the public address system. These public
announcements could be centralized, in a counting centre with multiple halls.

11. The Observers will also ensure that as soon as the final results and the
winning candidate are announced and all the relevant papers are signed by
the RO, the final detailed result is transmitted to ECI website. For this
Genesys software shall be used.

12. The Observers should ensure after the declaration of result that the RO
sends to CEO the duly filled and corrected copies of

a) Final Result Sheet in Form 20,

b) Declaration of Result in Form 21C,

c) Return of Election in Form 21E.

13. It may be noted that only the name, which is given in the Nomination Form,
is normally valid for all future references and use in the other related
documents. The list of contesting candidates in Form 7A should reflect this

38
 name exactly and correctly with same spellings as given in the Nomination
Form, unless the RO allows any deviation under Rule 8 of the Conduct of
Elections Rules, 1961. Eventually the name of the candidate who is returned
from the constituency is given in the declaration of the result in Form 21C.
It is absolutely imperative that this Form 21C, as also the return of the
election in Form 21E and the certificate of the election in Form 22 contain
exactly the same name as given in the list of contesting candidates in Form
7A. Consistency of the names in the Forms 7A, Ballot Paper and Forms 21C,
21E, 22 has to be maintained without fail. The Observers will impress upon
the Returning Officers about this aspect and ensure that full compliance is
made.

13. The Observer should ensure ROs/AROs are trained in generating round
declaration form RDF form 21C and 21E from the suvidha portal.

39
 Counting Arrangements Report
Necessary Actions for Preparedness for Counting Remarks
Sl no. Y/N
of votes
1. Whether proper management for reception of
Postal Ballots has been arranged?
2. Whether counting staff has gone under proper
training?
3. Whether necessary entry passes have been
issued to media persons concerned and
counting agents?
4. Whether proper security arrangements have
been made at the strong room as per
Commission’s instructions?
5. Whether proper security arrangement have been
made at the Counting centers as per
Commission’s Instruction?
6. Whether CCTVs/ Videography arrangements
have been made as per extant instructions of the
Commission?
7. Whether proper arrangements have been
planned for depositing of Electronic Gadgets at
the Counting centers?
8. Whether Political parties has been advised to
properly train their counting agents?
9. Whether proper arrangements have been made
for deployment of micro-observers at each table
in counting centers?
10. Whether all arrangements for the Counting
Centers have been made properly as per
Commission’s Instruction?
11. Whether minimum 8mbps of lease line internet
connectivity, backup lease line of 8mbps,
computer system, printer, Cyber security, online
ups and minimum 8 hours of power backup
generator have been put into place.

12. Whether suvidha app has been set up correctly

and training and report generation has been
provided?

Observer Code:
Assembly Constituency/District/State:

Signature:

40
 38. GENERAL OBSERVERS REPORTS
The First Report (immediately after the withdrawal of candidature).

OBSERVER REPORT – 1
Observer’s Name with Code:
Constituency:
District:
State:

Sl. Subject Observer’s Report

No.
Scrutiny of Nominations
1. Whether Scrutiny had been done by the R.O.
himself, if no, whether ARO has been
authorized by the R.O. in writing. Provide details

2. Whether the Commission’s instruction regarding

number of persons allowed to be present during
nomination process was observed/complied (this
may be confirmed by viewing the video coverage
of nomination process).
3. Whether Scrutiny of nomination papers was
done properly in accordance with Sections 33, 34
and 36 of the R.P. Act 1951 read with rule 4 of
the C.E. Rules 1961.
4. Names of Candidates whose nominations were
rejected with brief but clear reasons. (Attach copy
of summary orders passed by the R.O. in each
case)
5 Local address with telephone/mobile no. of the
Observer, after arrival in the consistency.

6 Whether Observer’s name, Contact No. and the

meeting hours with venue were advertised?
(Attach a copy of Advertisement)

7. Whether a complete data base of the poll

personnel – State and Central Government
employees – is available for deployment?

41
8. Whether the sector officers, flying squads, check
posts, video viewing teams, complaint monitoring
system, control room etc. in force?
9. Whether election related officers who are in their
home district or those who have completed 3
years of service in the Constituency had been
identified?
10. Whether training centers, counting centers, strong
rooms finalized?
11. Whether certain orders like suspension of arms
license, order pertaining to defacement, use of
loud speakers, declaring poll day as local holiday,
appointment of sectoral magistrates, vesting
powers under CrPC for executive magistrates,
requisition orders for polling stations, counting
centers, requisition order for vehicles, etc. have
been issued
12. Whether the required election materials had been
procured?
13. Whether the postal ballot requirement has been
worked out? – List of persons under preventive
detention, drivers cleaners of requisitioned
vehicles, police personnel on election duty,
service electors list updated
14. Whether all arrangements for the poll
personnel training done?
15. Whether the route maps for every polling station,
sector maps, route chart, and transport plans for
Observers, poll personnel, Micro
observers etc. made?
16. Whether the vehicle requirement for
transport plan assessed?
Security Measures/MCC Related
17. Whether security force deployment plans have
been finalized for the districts and all assembly
constituencies?
18. Whether detailed planning for CPF patrolling and
route marches in sensitive areas(with dates and
routes) and other Confidence Building Measures
have been done ?

42
19. Whether security arrangement has been prepared
for polling personal moving to remote/Sensitive
polling station
20. Whether Vulnerability mapping has been done
effectively
21. Whether important aspects of Model Code of
Conduct were briefed to the political parties/
Candidates. (Describe the main issues).
22. What was the time, date & venue of the meeting
with the political parties and contesting
candidates? The names of the candidates or their
representatives along with their party affiliation
who attended.
23. Whether prior intimation regarding date and time
of 2nd randomization of EVM/VVPAT
followed by EVM/VVPAT preparation and second level
check of EVM/VVPAT has been given to candidates with
proper acknowledgement receipt.
24. Whether the concept of worry list was explained
to the Candidates, and they advised to submit
their worry list.
25. Whether political parties were advised to properly
train their polling and counting agents (Describe
the main aspects).
26. Whether adequate publicity on MCC is done
27. Whether Control room, media center and com-
plaint monitoring mechanism has been set up
properly
28. Whether Flying squads, check posts and
checknakkas have been setup?
29. What arrangements made to review the live feed
from CCTVs/Webcasting at Nakas etc. and SOP
for action on any illegal activity noticed in live
feed.
30. Whether Videography teams have been appointed
and are available at officer’s disposal
31. Whether Single window for granting permissions
/ passes at RO level
32. Whether Mechanism to control defacement of
property has been setup

43
33. Whether Mechanism to collect and compile
information about search, seizures of cash, li-
quor, and filing of cases for MCC violations and
monitoring the same
34. Remarks if any.

Signature of the Observer

44
 The Second Report (To be Submitted on P-2 days)

OBSERVER REPORT – 2

Observer’s Name with Code:

Constituency:
District:
State:

Sl. Subject Observer’s Report

No.
Electoral Roll/EVM/VVPAT Related
1. Whether a copy of the electoral roll handed over to
Candidates of recognized Political parties. Whether a
copy of written receipts obtained from each of them.
Report the exceptions.
2. Whether list of EVMs/VVPATs used in the assembly constituency
including the training EVMs/VVPATs and reserved EVMs/VVPATs for
replacement has been given to political parties/
candi- dates.
3. Whether mock poll of 1000 votes in 5% randomly selected EVMs
as well as VVPATs was done by the R.O. in presence of political
parties / candidates. Whether candidate verifed theEVMs/
VVPATs (2nd level check) to their satisfaction. Please describe.

4. Whether candidates were allowed to take help from the

engineers/master trainers in order to eliminate doubt
about the malfunctioning of EVM/VVPATs.

5 Whether all stages of Randomization of EVM/VVPAT

mentioned in the Commission letter 51/8/16/4/2017-EMS
dated 05-12-2017 and 51/8/VVPAT/2017-EMS dated 30/08/2017
have been fully covered with videography and record kept properly.
6. What is the arrangement to escort the polled EVM
back?
7. What is transportation and receipt arrangement for
polled EVM/VVPAT?
8. What is strong room guarding plan? Is the general
atmosphere conducive for holding of free and fair poll?
If no, state detailed reasons.

45
9. Whether FLC completed? And the Zero level
randomization (separating training machines from the
poll machines) and First randomization completed?
10. Whether political parties were involved during the
process of First level randomization? Randomized list
provided to political parties and ROs and proper log
books maintained?
11. What is the number of VVPATs used
12. Whether VVPATs have been tested and whether full
load test performed?
13. Whether the maximum no of voters exceed 1500 in any
polling station, in PS where VVPAT is used, better to
keep it at 1200 only.
Polling Personnel
14. How and when 2nd randomization of polling personnel
accomplished? Describe. Any drawbacks?
15. Whether arrangement has been made for creating a
data base for deployment of polling/police personnel?
16. Similarly, for micro observers what are the training and
deployment arrangements?
17. Whether vulnerability mapping have been done and
critical polling stations and clusters have been
identified?
18. Whether adequate preventive steps have been taken for
maintenance of Law and Order?
19. What is the security arrangement for polling stations
and poll personnel (briefly the force deployment
parameter)?
20. How many polling stations with static outside force,
how many with video coverage and how many through
micro observers?
Polling Stations – Poll Day Preparations
21. Poll Day Arrangements – Control room, Voter assistance
booths, regular reporting to ECI about incidents and
violence, for monitoring Law and Order, receipt
arrangements, strong rooms, Training OROs about 17
A scrutiny formats etc.
22. Whether arrangements for regular media briefings have
been made?
23. Whether all vacancies of EROs/AEROs are filled up.

46
24. Whether Count of 17 types of errors before final
publication has been carried out and rectified
25. Whether count of duplicates names in the electoral roll
has been identified and deleted
26. Whether exercise has been done to delete dead/shifted
and absentee
27. Whether proper checking of the names of VIPs –
Ministers, MLA, etc. has been carried out
28. Whether the IT Applications like Samadhan, Suvidha
and Sugam are working properly.
29. Whether the list of polling stations has been prepared,
published and provided to political parties, RO, ARO,
Observers, Police authorities etc. And whether three
copies of the same is provided to the contesting
candidates.
30 Whether ECI approval has been obtained on the list of
Polling (including the auxiliary) stations. Are there any
changes in the already approved list?
31 Whether basic minimum facilities like electricity,
drinking water, shade, toilet etc. and ramps the physically
challenged voters and a standard voting compartment
has been arranged at all polling stations. Details.
32 Whether the RO / ARO conducted inspections of all
polling stations and a report prepared in the format A
(in page 9 of the DEO Checklist).
33 Whether any model polling stations planned?
34 Whether proper arrangements have been made to
facilitate the differently abled electors at polling
stations?
35 Whether Live web casting / CCTV arrangements made
to monitor election process at distant polling stations?
36 Whether references / photographs / posters of
Ministers / MLAs depicting the achievements of the
Government in power removed in polling stations
Vulnerability Mapping
37 Whether comprehensive District Election Management
Plan has been prepared as per the Commission’s
instructions. Comment on quality.
38 Details of measures taken for confidence building in
vulnerability/hamlets.

47
39 Are there any vulnerable polling stations? Any PS
where violence, booth capturing, intimidation, political
rivalry etc. incidents reported in past elections?
40 Whether list of vulnerable pockets/hamlets have been
identified by the DM/SP and RO.

(i) PSs of high % of Non-EPIC voters.

(ii) PSs of high % of missing voters without family
links.
(iii) PSs having vulnerable pockets -SO’s, Police’s and]
candidate’s “worry list”.
(iv) PSs where polling was more than 75% and where
more than 75% of votes have been polled in favour
of one candidate in last election.
(v) Re-poll reported due to malpractices, and where
electoral violence has taken place during last election.
(vi) Anti-social elements and their areas of influence.

Security Measures
41 Whether sector officer has prepared Zonal Magistrate
Plan with the sketch map for Polling Stations, List of
telephone No. of Polling Stations and election related
officers, police stations, list of responsible persons, list
of Anti-Social elements etc.
42. What is the date of arrival of the CPF.
43. Whether daily action plan of the CPF was prepared in
consultation with DEO/RO. Comment on effective
CPF usage so far and shortcoming if any.
Paid News Cases
44. Whether strict monitoring of all ‘Paid News’ cases
was undertaken and cases referred to DEO/RO/
Media Certification & Monitoring Committee(MCMC).
45. Any Other Comment:

Signature of the Observer

48
“No voter to be left behind”

The Third Report (Immediately after completion of Poll)

OBSERVER REPORT – 3
Observer’s Name with Code:
Constituency:
District:
State:

Sl. Subject Observer’s Report

No.
1) Total number of Polling Station.
2) Whether mock poll done and certificate issued in all
Polling Stations. If no, indicate the specific number of
Polling Station.
3) Number of Polling Stations where there was only one
election agent / polling agent was present (indicate the
specific Polling Stations).
4) No. of polling stations with video cameras
5) No of polling stations with micro observers
6) Number of EVMs replaced after the start of poll
(indicate the specific polling Stations.) and describe the
defect in the EVM – EVM No. and make to be
clearly mentioned.
7) No. and name of polling stations where complaints
of violation of polls were received during the course
of poll. Describe the nature of complaints and action
taken.
8) Number of Polling Stations where poll was
interrupted for more than two hours or start of poll
delayed by two hours or more in starting (indicate the
specific Polling stations)
9) Number of Polling Stations, where the interrupted poll
could not continue (indicate the specific polling
stations)
10) No. of polling station where there is, in the opinion of
observer, a need for re-poll (based on point no. 7, 8 &
9 above).

49
“No voter to be left behind”

11) Whether there was malfunctioning of any VVPATs

machine
12) Remarks if any.

Signature of the Observer

50
“No voter to be left behind”

The Fourth Report (immediately after the Scrutiny of 17 A (Register of Voters) and
other documents on the day after the poll)

OBSERVER REPORT – 4

Observer’s Name with Code:

Constituency:
District:
State:

Sl. Subject Observer’s Report

No.
1 Whether proper intimation was given in advance, in
writing (under proper acknowledgment).
2 Whether Scrutiny of Form 17 A (Register of Voters)
and other documents such as Form 17 C, Presiding
Officer’s diary, Micro observer’s reports, Sector
Officer’s visit Sheets (in the presence of candidates /
election agents or their authorized representatives)
done. Who were present? For how many polling
stations?
3 Whether proper log-books has been maintained for
recording the time and purpose of opening and closing
storage room where election records are kept.
4 Whether the room was opened in the presence of
observer and candidates/their election agents/
representatives
5 Whether after the scrutiny of Form 17A, 17C, marked
copies of electoral rolls etc., have been resealed by the
Retuning Officer.
6 Whether the election agents/ representatives present
have put their seal or signature thereon – who/which
of the candidates?
7 Whether after scrutiny of Form 17 A, 17C and other
documents and materials the R.O. and Observer makes
any recommendations to the Commission for re-poll.
If yes describe the reasons for each recommended
polling station separately.
8 Remarks if any.

Signature of the Observer

51
“No voter to be left behind”

The Fifth Report (immediately after the Counting of Votes).

OBSERVER REPORT – 5
Observer’s Name with Code:
Constituency:
District:
State:

Sl. Subject Observer’s Report

No.
1 Whether arrangements for counting has been done as
per the instruction of the Commission’s letters No.
470/2007/PLN-I dated. 11.1.2007, 29.08.2007 and
470/INST/2009/EPS dated 08.09.2009? If No, what
are the discrepancies?
2 Whether randomization of counting staff was done as
per the instruction of the Commission in the morning?
3 Whether political parties were advised to properly train
their polling and counting agents.
4 Whether pairing of counting supervisor and counting
assistant was done as per the instruction of the
Commission?
5 How many tables were arranged?

6 How many rounds were planned?

7 How many Micro-Observer were deployed for each
table?
8 How many postal ballot papers were counted?
9 Whether after each round or counting, random
checking of 2(two) EVMs was done by the observer?
10 Whether the counting agents of the candidates were
present at the time of counting?
11 Whether the signature of the counting agents taken in
part –II of form 17 C?
12 Whether the total votes shown in part-II of form 17 C
tally with the votes counted in EVM?
13 Whether the seating arrangements of the counting
agents were done as per the Commission’s instruction?
14 Whether continuous Videography of counting was
done?

52
“No voter to be left behind”

15 Whether the EVM no. was tallied with the EVM list
supplied to the polling stations ?
16 Whether Green paper seal no for each counted EVM
checked and verified?
17 Whether the round wise result was immediately put
on the blackboard in counting hall at the close of each
round and before the beginning of next round?
18 Whether there was any demand for re-totaling with
what result? Describe.
19 Whether any significant incident occurred during
counting of votes? If yes, give details
20 Whether there was any case of counting of VVPAT
slips under Rule 56D of Conduct of Elections Rules,
1961.
21 Name and number of Polling Stations where VVPAT
slips were counted
22 Whether the number of VVPAT slips matched with
the number of votes cast in Control Unit.
23 Whether candidates/ counting agents were present at
the time of declaration of result?
24 Time when counting started and ended. When was the
result announced? If there was any time lag, please
describe the reasons.
25 Is the observer satisfied about the counting &
declarations of results? (Observer should enclose
round wise tabulation sheets with post copy)
26 Remarks if any.

Signature of the Observer

53
 39. POLICE OBSERVERS REPORTS

OBSERVER (POLICE)
FIRST REPORT
(To be Submitted on 2nd day of reaching the allocated district)
Code No. & Name of Observer
(Police)
State:
District:
Date:

Sl. Item Report

No.
1 Date & Time of Arrival at allocated District
2 Particulars of Stay in the District with Telephone and Fax
number

3 Camp Office Address with Telephone and Fax number

4 Mobile Phone Number

5 Have you gone through the booklets/CDs given in the
Observer Kit?
6 Whether you had a meeting with -
a) District Magistrate (Collector) Date of meeting & Brief
of the discussion held:

b) Superintendent of Police Date of meeting & Brief

of the discussion held:

c) General Observers of the District Date of meeting & Brief

of the discussion held:

d) Expenditure Observers of the District Date of meeting & Brief

of the discussion held:

54
7 Any significant information regarding the pattern of law Remarks:
and order situation in the district

8 Comments on Seizure of Itemized details of the

unlicensed Arms / Weap- Weapons Seizure:
ons / Cartridges /
Explosives Cartridges

Explosives

9 Comments on illicit arms Number of Itemized details of the

manufacturing Centers raided Raids Seizure:
and seizures made
9.1 Comments on Licensed
Arms deposited / impounded Deposited
and Cancelled
Impounded

Cancelled

10 No. of persons bound down Comments:

u/s 107 / 116 Cr.P.C. etc. & Number
other preventive sections
11 Comments on -
a) Incidents of violence related Number
to poll campaign, political
rivalry etc.

b) Total Killed (Since date of

announcement of Election Number
schedule)
c) Total injured (Since date
of announcement of Number
Election schedule)
d) Damage to Property
(in Lacs Since date of Rupees
announcement of Election
schedule)

55
12 Comments on any Liquor/ Liquor
Cash seized (Since date of (in Ltrs.)
announcement of Election
schedule) Cash
(in Rs.)

13 Status of Execution of NBW Number of Execution

14 Comments and level of satis- Remarks:

faction regarding-

a) Deployment &
performance of flying squads

b) Night Patrols Remarks:

c) Area Domination by CPF/ Remarks with dates and

State Police places of such activities:
d) Training of Police Remarks:
Personnel at all levels
e) Working of check-posts Remarks:
15 Any other specific activity or Remarks:
finding, which you may like
to bring to the notice of the
Commission
16 Any major incident which Remarks:
may have impact on
forthcoming polls.
17 Any information regarding Remarks:
intimidation of voters
18 Level of satisfaction regarding Remarks:
whether sufficient action taken
to stop such intimidation
19 Suggestion, if any

Signature of the Observer

56
 OBSERVER (POLICE)
SECOND REPORT
(To be submitted on the 5th day of reaching the allocated district)

Code No. & Name of Observer

(Police)
State:
District:
Date:

Sl. Item Report

No.
1 Training of all Police Personnel on pre-poll and poll duties Comments:
conducted. Please furnish your comments thereon.

2 Whether check-posts have been set up and shift duty is in place Comments:
thereof to see whether illegal Arms/Ammunitions, liquor etc.
are not moving into the district.
3 Whether flying squads have been formed. Please furnish your Comments:
comments thereon.
4 Whether Night Patrols have been mobilized in the district. Comments:
Please furnish your comments thereon.

5 Whether area domination through route plan is sufficient and Comments:

each route plan is being covered or not. Please furnish your
comments.
6 Whether Security forces have been briefed on:

a) pre-poll duties (Area domination)

b) security/sensitivity aspects of the area of their deployment.

c) Comments on (a) & (b) above

7 Status of Execution of NBW Number of Execution :

8 Whether NBWs have been executed at thana level.

Details thereof-

Signature of the Observer

57
 OBSERVER (POLICE)
THIRD REPORT
(To be submitted 2 days before poll)

Sl. Subject Input

No.
1 Observation about Seizure of Itemized details of
unlicensed Arms / Weapons / Weapons Seizure with dates:
Cartridges / Explosives
Cartridges

Explosives

2 Observation about illicit arms Itemized details of Sei-

manufacturing Centres raided and Number of zure with dates:
seizures made Raids

3 Observation about Licensed Arms Remarks:

deposited / impounded and Deposited
Cancelled
Impounded

Cancelled

4 No. of persons bound down u/s Remarks:

107 / 116 Cr.P.C. etc. & other Number
preventive sections
5 Observation about - Details with dates of the
a) Incidents of violence related to Number major incidents:
poll campaign, political rivalry etc.

6 b) Total Killed (Since date of No. of Male/ Females

announcement of Election Number died and details of ac-
schedule) tion taken:
7 c) Total injured (Since date of No. of Male/ Females
announcement of Election Number injured and details of
schedule) action taken:
8 d) Damage to Property Cause of damage and
( in Lacs Since date of announcement Rupees action taken:
of Election schedule)

58
9 Comments on any Liquor/Cash Liquor Remarks:
seized (Since date of (in Ltrs.)
announcement of Election
schedule) Cash
(in Rs.)

10 Observation about - Satisfied Remarks:

a) Deployment & performance of
flying squads Yes

No

If no, give comments

11 b) Night Patrols Satisfied Remarks:

Yes

No

If no, give comments

12 c) Area Domination by CPF/State Satisfied Remarks:

Police
Yes

No

If no, give comments

13 d) Training of Police Personnel at Satisfied Remarks:

all levels
Yes

No

If no, give comments

14 e) Working of check-posts Satisfied Remarks:

Yes

No
If no, give comments

59
15 Status of Execution of NBW Number of Execution

16 Any other specific activity or Remarks:

finding, which you may like to bring
to the notice of the Commission

17 Any major incident which may have Remarks:

impact on forthcoming polls.

18 Suggestion, if any Remarks:

Signature of the Observer

60
 OBSERVER (POLICE)
FOURTH REPORT - POLL DAY REPORT
(TO BE SENT IMMEDIATELY AFTER POLLS ARE OVER IN THE DISTRICT)

Code No. & Name of Observer

(Police)
State:
District:
Date:

Sl. Item Report

No.
1 a) No. of incidents of violence on
poll day.
b) Total Killed
c) Total injured
d) Damage to Property ( in Lacs)
2 Details of any Liquor/Arms/Cash Remarks:
seized Liquor

Arms

Cash

3 Reports on Security at Polling Satisfied Remarks:

Stations.
Yes

No

If no, give comments

INCIDENT REPORT
Sl. District Assembly Polling Station Description
No. Constituency
1

Signature of the Observer

61
 “No voter to be left behind”

40. DOS AND DON’TS FOR OBSERVERS

DOs

1. Attend the briefing and debriefing session fixed by the Commission.

2. Draw up your tour programs sufficiently in advance and intimate to the Chief Electoral
Officer, District Election Officer and the Returning Officer of the constituency concerned.

3. Note carefully the numbers of visits, duration of visits and the period of visits given
by the Commission and strictly act according to this.

4. Ensure that your tour Programme is duly publicized within the constituencies allotted
to you.

5. Identification of areas / polling stations which might require closer attention:

I. Visiting polling stations/areas, especially those for which vulnerability

mapping is done.

II. Visiting polling stations/areas, which have previous history of malpractices,

irregularities and other such incidents.

III. Visiting newly created polling stations is necessary.

IV. Visiting polling stations/areas which might become sensitive during course
of election due to any other reasons.

6. Monitor that adequate stock of all election materials are actually available as per the
inventory of these items.

7. Strictly follow the guidelines from the EVM-VVPAT Manual-2018 Edition 3 and
Status Paper on EVM Edition 3.

8. Familiarize yourself with the use of EVMs/VVPATs, and attend some training
rehearsals.

9. Ensure that sufficient publicity regarding EVM/VVPATs has been given so that
media and general public have no misgivings about EVMs/VVPATs.

10. Make an independent assessment of the Law and Order situation in general.

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“No voter to be left behind”

11. The observers are expected to guide advice and facilitate the efforts and initiatives
of the DEO/RO in making necessary poll arrangements and conducting the
elections in a free, fair, transparent, peaceful and participatory manner.

12. Make a random check of as many polling stations as possible and verify them.

13. Monitor instances of violation of Model Code, ban on transfer etc.

14. Monitor the deployment of central forces to have maximum impact.

15. Send a report to the Commission within 24 hours of your return to the headquarters
after the visit. In addition, also please send spot report(s) from time to time as considered
necessary.

16. Bring any development that merits immediate remedial action or attention of the
Commission, to Returning Officer’s / Commission’s notice without any loss of time.
Such information should not be deferred till the regular reports are submitted.

17. Upload on Observer Portal or send your report in a closed envelope addressed to the
Secretary concerned looking after the particular State / Union Territory.

18. Attend meetings of the political parties called by the District Election Officers /
Returning Officers.

19. Make independent assessment of the expenditure incurred by a candidate, political

party or any other person.

20. Speak to the local people and check posters, pamphlets etc. to arrive at an independent
assessment.

21. Inspect the register of Election Expenditure prescribed by the Commission.

22. Obtain prior permission of the Commission before leaving the headquarters.

23. Maintain proper conduct in the Constituency as ECI Observers are keenly observed.

24. The Observers shall, at all times, conduct themselves in consonance with the highest
standards of professional, ethical and personal conduct, as is expected of a responsible
and mature officer of the Commission.

25. The Observers shall discharge their observation duties with due diligence, honesty
and responsibility.

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 “No voter to be left behind”

26. Observers must be respectful of the local customs, traditions and cultures and refrain
from expressing their personal opinions, perspectives and political preferences.

27. The observers must appreciate and respect the democratic processes and fundamental
values of constitutional democracy enshrined in our Constitution.

28. The observers should follow the virtues of simplicity and avoid any lavish lifestyle or
extravagance.

29. The observers must display the highest level of due diligence and professional acumen
in conveying their opinions and reports to the commission about any election-related
incident.

30. Any out-of-box suggestion regarding the improvement in election process should be
given only in the final report.

31. Any instruction to the election machinery for a new experiment/measure should
NOT be given without prior approval of the Commission.

32. All reports to the Commission should be prepared solely on the basis of accurate,
reliable and verifiable information and not on hearsays, half-truths, rumors or
unfounded anecdotal references.

33. The Observers must maintain strict confidentiality in submission of their reports and
assessments to the Commission.

64
“No voter to be left behind”

DON’TS

1. Do not ask for any exemption from the briefing session.

2. Do not travel to the Constituency with your families.

3. Do not go to the State capital to meet the Chief Electoral Officer if the route to the
constituency from your headquarters does not pass through the State capital.

4. Do not call meetings of the political parties on your own.

5. Do not make any unreasonable demands to the Chief Electoral Officer / District
Election Officer / Returning Officer regarding accommodation, vehicles, security
etc.

6. Do not leave your headquarters once you have been allotted specific constituencies
without the prior written permission of the Commission.

7. Do not plan for arrival to the Constituency on the day of scrutiny.

8. Do not plan for departure from the Constituency on the day next to the day of poll
or on the day of counting.

9. Do not defer submitting reports of any development, which requires immediate

remedial action; bring it to the Commission’s notice by fastest means.

10. Observer has no executive role and role clarity is a must. For example, Observers
should not pull the posters off the walls to clean up defacement.

11. The Observers shall not be a party to any illegal, unauthorized or illegitimate activity
or engage in acts, which can bring discredit and disrepute to the Commission and
invite criticism from media, political parties, candidates or any other quarter.

65
 “No voter to be left behind”

12. The Observers must not make any unauthorized public statements and exercise due
caution before taking any definitive position in any election-related matter.

13. Discretion is much more preferable to any grand-standing or over-confident utterance.

14. The observers must not accept any offers of hospitality, avoid shopping at special
discounts or attendance at private clubs/gymnasiums and avoid recreational/scenic
tours/trips etc. during their stay in the assigned Districts/ACs.
15. The observers should not appear to be partial and exhibit political neutrality through
their conduct and behavior.

16. The Observers are the eyes and ears of the Commission and not the mouthpiece.

17. The observers shall NOT interact with any media persons (except to receive any
inputs or information offered by them), or give any form of press briefings or press
releases regarding their assessment or actions, without the express authorization from
the Commission.

18. The observers must abstain from expressing any views or opinions which may be
directly or indirectly construed as support or preference for, or prejudice against any
particular political party, coalition or candidate even in their private discourse with
their colleagues or the election officials. This also applies to their interaction through
electronic medium like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook or other social media platforms.

19. Observers must ensure that no part of the report or election related information is
shared with any unauthorized person or agency.

20. The over-arching spirit guiding the observers is cooperation and collaboration and
not inquisition and enquiry.

66
“No voter to be left behind”

21. The Observers are not deployed on a fault-finding mission, but to objectively assess
the poll preparedness, identify the critical gaps and guide the DEO/RO to address
them.

22. lf any shortcoming or lacunae in the actions or performance of any election official
in the state is not being addressed despite reminding the field machinery, it should be
communicated to the CEO and the Commission, instead of direct confrontation or
over-zealous criticism.

67
 Review Points for Central Observers
1. Polling Station:

• Assured Minimum Facilities(AMP), standard voting compartment (with in

creased height of voting compartment).

• Voter Assistance Booth for ease of voters.

• All Women Managed Polling Station.

• Special Facilitation for differently-abled, visually-challenged, women, elderly,

leprosy affected etc.

• Voter Facilitation Posters.

2. Electoral Roll:

• Modified Photo Voter Slip (with larger photo of the voter and location of
the polling booth) distribution arrangements & monitoring.

• Voter guide distribution.

3. Model Code of Conduct:

• Mechanism of strict enforcement of MCC- flying squads, excise teams,

border check posts etc.

• Arrangements for “SOPs for last 72 hrs. till counting” and strict compliance.

4. Vulnerability Mapping:

• Whether list of vulnerable pockets/hamlets have been identified by the DM/

SP and RO and have they visited them.

• Whether proper arrangement has been made for monitoring liquor production
units and liquor outlets. Details of action taken on this front so far.

68
5. Quality and Fidelity of the Transportation Plan and Communication Plan and
arrangements for communication-shadow areas.

6. Training and deployment of Micro-observers.

7. Training of polling staff with special focus on electoral process, EVMs &
VVPATs.

8. Deployment of Forces:

• Whether deployment of CPFs and SAPs has been prepared as per the
directions of the Commission.

• Whether vulnerable and critical polling stations have been identified and
proper security measures have been adopted.

• Whether CPF has been used for route-marches/ area domination in the
vulnerable pocketes/hamlets. Details of dates/time of such visits by CPF.

• Whether daily action plan of the CPF has been prepared in consultation with
DEO/RO. Comment of effective CPF usage so far and shortcoming if any.

9. Complaint Redressal Mechanism:

• Whether complaint redressal mechanism based on website and Call Centers

has been constituted.

• Whether the Call Center number has been given wide publicity.

• Whether the district contact center with 1950 toll-free no. has been set up,
Sufficient no. of agents have been placed, are able to register all information,
feedback and suggestion sand complaints into National Grievances services
portal NGSP.
• Whether all complaints are disposed of in 24 hours.

10. IT Application:

c-VIGIL:
• Whether the district control room has been set up for handling new c-VIGIL
cases.
Whether flying squads/static surveillance teams have been registered with the
c-VIGIL investigator and whether the investigation team adapt in handling
c-VIGIL cases and reporting from the mobile app.

69
 • Whether c-VIGIL cases are disposed in a prescribed timeline. Whether the
Observer himself has c-VIGIL Observer app and is monitoring and reviewing
the c-VIGIL cases.
Voter Helpline App:
• Whether the voter helpline application has been popularized electoral search,
submission of form, submission of complaints, candidate affidavit and results.
PWD App :
• Whether PWD app has been popularized amongst PWD voters and whether the
request of marking "as PWD", request for a wheelchair is downloadable at the DEO/
RO level and whether the arrangements have been made.
Suvidha App ::
• Whether appropriate ICT helpdesk to digitize candidate nomination in the suvidha
has been done. Whether all the nominations are 100% digitized on the suvidha app.
Suvidha Permission App :
• Whether all the permissions are been handled only at suvidha or not. Whether all the
permissions ar given on stipulated time
Suvidha Scrutiny App :
• Whether all the returning officers are scrutinizing all the application for nomination
only at suvidha and are correctly marking as accepted, rejected/withdrawn/contesting.
Suvidha Candidate App
:
• Whether candidates have been told about the app for following up on the permission
status and nomination status.

11. Arrangements for Poll Day Monitoring.

12. Arrangements at the EVM Strong Room:

• Whether proper arrangements have been made for video recording of the
EVM/VVPAT strong room.

• Whether proper arrangements have been made for temporary stay/shelter

for the representatives of the political parties outside the EVM/VVPAT strong room.

• Whether proper lighting arrangements have been made.

• Whether plans for using the forces for securing the strong rooms where the
EVMs and VVPATs are stored and for securing the counting centers and for
other purposes, as required, have been formulated.
13. EVM Arrangements:
• Whether mock poll conducted during candidate setting on 5% randomly
selected EVMs/VVPATs.
• Whether all polling officials adequetely trained on handling of EVMs &
VVPATs in batch sizes of less than 50? How many batches conducted?
70
 • Whether arrangments are being made to conduct hands on training and doubt
clearing on EVMs during dispersal of polling parties.
• How many EVMs/VVPATS found faulty during Candidate Setting? Are
these entered in ETS?
• Whether Commission's instructions regarding fitting of Sector Officer's
vehicles with GPS tracking for real time monitoring of movement of reserve
EVMs and VVPATs have been implemented in letter and spirit?
• Whether adequate staff has been deployed for monitoring of round the clock
monitoring of EVM control rooms?
13 (a) Poll turnout Arrangement ICT app :
• Whether all accounts of RO/ARO have been set up for entering every 2 hourly
report.
• Whether all PRO/RO/ARO about the entry of estimated voter turnour, end of
the poll turnout and the accuracy of entering male, female and other data.

14. Counting Day Arrangements:

• Whether proper management for reception of postal ballots has been
arranged.
• Whether proper security arrangement have been made at the strong room as
per Commission’s instructions.
• Whether CCTVs/Videography arrangements have been as per extant
instructions of the Commission.
• Whether proper arrangements have been made for deployment of micro-
obser vers at each table in counting centers.
• Whether proper arrangements have been made for the Counting Halls as per
the Commission’s instructions.
• Whether proper barricading has been done inside and outside the Counting
Centers.
• Whether the paths for carrying EVMs to the Counting Centers have been
properly sanitized with adequate security measures
• Whether proper arrangements have been made for the verification of
VVPAT paper slips as per Commission’s instruction . vide letter no. 51/8/
VVPAT/2017-EMS dated 13.10.2017 and 05.12.2017.
• Whether minimum 8mbps of lease line internet connectivity, backup lease line
of 8 Mbps, computer system, printer, cyber security, online UPS and minimum
8 hours of power backup generator have been put into place.
• Whether the ROs/AROs are trained in generating round declaration form RDF
form 21C and 21 E from the suvidha portal.

15. Any other important issue.

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 “No voter to be left behind”

New IT Applications To Be Used For Forthcoming General Elections:

By the dedicated use of the Information and Communications Technology, ECI has ushered in the
era of greater participation and involvement of citizens in the election process. Following are the brief
outlines of the Information and Communications Technologies to be used:
For Citizens, Candidate and Political Parties:
1. cVIGIL Application
cVIGIL provides time-stamped evidentiary proof of the Model Code of Conduct / Expenditure Vi-
olation by empowering every citizen to click a photo or video using his or her smart phone. The ap-
plication is based on GIS technology and this unique feature of auto location provides fairly correct
information which can be relied upon by flying squads to navigate to the right spot of incidence and
take prompt action. cVIGIL acts not only as a potent decision support system tool for election machin-
ery but also ensures the participation of common man in conducting free and fair elections.
This app prioritizes the speedy and effective actions by authorities and promised users status report
within 100 minutes. The “100-minute” rule makes the app a reliable way to report violations. Realtime
status tracking and monitoring also help to fill in all the existing gaps and creates a fast-track complaint
reception and redressal system.
The inbuilt features of the app prevent its misuse. The app can only be used to register complaints
about MCC violations. The user will only get 5 minutes to report an incident after having clicked a
picture/ video. To prevent being put on the false scent, the app does not allow uploading of the prere-
corded videos/ photos, neither would it allow users to save photos/ videos clicked from this app into
the phone gallery. To prevent Further, the app can only be active in the States where elections have been
announced. The moment a citizen exits such a State; the app will become inactive.
GIS-based tagging is one of the most important features of the application. The app automatically
enables a geo-tagging feature when users switched on their camera in the cVIGIL to report a violation.
The Commission also incorporated a feature i.e. “Cornerstone/ Leaderboard” into the app, to identify
and reward the most proactive citizens. In a way, this will create an incentive for others also to actively
use the platform; besides creating reputational benefits for civic-minded users.
2. Voter Helpline Mobile Application
The application provides convenience to all Citizens of finding names in the electoral roll, submitting
online forms, checking the status of the application, filing complaints and receiving a reply on their
mobile app. All types of forms, results, candidate affidavit, press notes, Voter awareness, and important
instructions are available through the mobile app. Electoral Search is the paramount feature of Voter
Helpline Application, which allows voters to search their names in electoral roll by entering personal
details, EPIC, or by scanning Barcode. The information can be saved by the voter/ elector to use it as
voter slip. A person can share this information with their contact list also.
The application also has an option to search the Booth Level officer, Electoral Registration Officer,
District Election Officer, and the Chief Electoral Officer and can make a direct call to them from the
app. For voters’ facilitation, features like hearing/ seeing the name of the contesting candidates as per
the Form 7A sequence has been added, which is like hearing/ seeing the names of the candidates as per
the names printed on EVM Machine. Results will also be available through the Voter Helpline App. A
common man can simply scan their EPIC No. from the mobile app to see the result of his constituency.
3. Persons with Disability Application (PwD)
The PwD Mobile Application has been developed keeping PwD voters in mind and requires minimal
knowledge of technology. The app has accessibility features such as Voice over prompt, high con-
trasting interface, easy navigation, and access to Booth Level officers. The PwD users can search their
detailed profile by entering the EPIC card number.

72
“No voter to be left behind”

In order to facilitate voting by PwDs electors, Commission has started some critical and focused initia-
tives like providing wheelchair facilities during elections, volunteer assistance in the booth, and transport
to the polling station. Further, to facilitate visually impaired people, the Commission has introduced a
very important feature in the PwD application, which reads out the full candidate list with name and
serial number to the voter. In addition, the voter can select the desired number from the ballot list and
cast their vote with ease.
4. Candidate App:
The Candidate App provides relevant information to the candidates about the status of their Nomina-
tion and Permissions. All the permissions for meetings, rallies, loudspeakers, the temporary office will
be handled through the online portal. The candidate, Political parties or any representative of the candi-
date can apply directly on https://suvidha.eci.gov.in and thereafter receive the permission approval sta-
tus on the Candidate App. It obviated manual intervention in granting permissions as the applications
will be processed on a first come first serve basis
5. Samadhan/ National Grievance Services Portal:
A unified toll-free number 1950 has been established. Any citizen can call on this toll-free number to
get Information, Feedback, Suggestions, and Complaints. District contact Voter Helpline canters to ad-
dress all the grievances had also been placed, where this system ensures that a caller can receive all voter
facilitation services in his local language. Any citizen can reach now to all electoral services by simply
calling 1950 from a landline or mobile.
6. Voter Turnout
Voter Turnout App will be used to display real-time voter turnout details of each Assembly Constitu-
ency/ Parliamentary Constituency including the number of men, women and third gender. Not only
citizens but the application can also be used by media houses to capture the live voter turnout data.
All phases of the elections will be displayed through this app in real-time. The Voter Turnout app will
surely become a milestone in transparent elections. The application is available on Google Play store.
7. Model Code of Conduct Violation Portal:
This unified portal deals with the various Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations cases like those
complaints received from political parties/non-political parties or the general public. The Portal will
reflect all cases on model code violations of all the important cases which are published and displayed
in the portal, as authorized by the competent authority to be displayed in the portal, for the public in-
formation immediately after ECIs’ decisions are taken into the matter on a case to case basis.
For Election Officials:
1. Observer Mobile App
Observer mobile app aids Observers in real-time to get all information about their allotted Parliamentary/
Assembly Constituency and send observation reports to ECI instantly and securely.
All cVIGIL cases reported in their jurisdiction are also made available to General Observers, Expen-
diture and Police Observers and they can give their input too from the place of citing of cVIGIL inci-
dence. Observers can check their deployment status and download their ID cards with the convenience
of a few clicks only from the dashboard and will be able to check all the important notifications and
instructions sent by the ECI Officials.
2. Suvidha:
This application provides online filling of candidate nomination, permissions, the publication of can-
didate affidavits and most importantly result management system. Suvidha provides easy processing
of candidate applications in a multilingual format. As and when the applications will be digitized by
Returning Officers, the information about the status of the application is reflected on the website
and mobile applications. Once the candidature is final the citizen can download the list of contesting

73
 “No voter to be left behind”

candidates. The complete profile of the candidates along with the affidavit is also available on https://
affidavit.eci.gov.in and in the Voter helpline mobile app available on android and apple store. Users can
download affidavits of all candidates at the convenience of their mobile phones.
The candidate, Political parties or any representative of the candidate can apply directly on https://su-
vidha.eci.gov.in and thereafter receive the permission approval status on the specially designed “Suvidha
Candidate App”. All the permissions for meetings, Rallies, loudspeakers, temporary office can also be
handled through the online portal. It obviates manual intervention in granting permissions and it will
be processed on a first come first serve basis. The online application once received, required various de-
partmental nodal officers to give no objection before the permission could be granted by the Returning
Officer. Each nodal officer of Police, Revenue, Transport, PWD and others will be given an exclusive
mobile app to process the permissions on the fly.
The result portal https://results.eci.gov.in would contain the information in a compiled manner such
that citizens get to know the authentic and real-time results even before it is available in any media
house. The result will not only be available through the website but also be available through the Mobile
App i.e. Voter Helpline App and the Result Panel https://results.eci.gov.in.
3. Sugam:
The Election Commission of India has been using this application for Vehicle Management with the
facility of issuance of requisition letters for vehicles, capturing of vehicle details with address, mobile
number and bank details of Owner & Driver, Transfer of vehicles from one district to another district,
etc. It is to be used by CEOs as per their requirements.
4. EVM Management System (EMS):
EVM Management System is designed to manage inventory of EVM units. One of the important
modes to ensure a fair and transparent process in EVM management is the administrative protocol of
the randomization of the machines before they are deployed in the Polling stations. This whole process
will be done in the presence of Political Parties’ representatives. The EVM Management System add
to the transparency and ensure that there is no manual intervention at any level from the manufacturer
to the polling stations. The new mobile app for scanning and tracking of machine units ensures each
machine is tracked in real-time. The App will be used for scanning at the warehouse level while unit
movement from one location to another in AC after the first randomization. Once FLC is successfully
completed then EVMs and VVPATs will be randomized twice, once for allocation of machines to
assembly constituencies and second to polling stations in the presence of candidates or their represen-
tatives before they are distributed for use in individual polling stations.
The randomizations were carried out through EVM Management System(EMS) by the DEO in the
presence of the representatives of political parties/candidates for complete transparency. The lists of
EVMs and VVPATs containing serial number of EVM and VVPAT allocated to particular polling station
were provided to the political parties/candidates.
5. Webcasting
To ensure that the critical and vulnerable polling booths are monitored in real-time, ECI will ensure
the IP based webcasting, which is viewable by DEOs, CEOs, and ECI in real-time.
6. One-way Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot for Service Voters:
All registered Service Voters will be delivered e-postal ballot of their respective constituency through
electronically transmitted postal ballot (ETPBS), which will be printed and after casting the vote will
be sent back to Returning Officer by post.
7. Voter Facilitation Services on NVSP:
I. In NVSP & ERO Net, provision has been made for elector to mark him as PWD with
disability category such as sight, hearing, locomotive or any other such marking visible to
ERO & RO, so that they can interact with concerned elector for providing support
appropriately to them helping & enabling them to cast vote at ease.

II. On NVSP such electors can also submit requests for wheel chair or any other assistance
required.

74
 ANNEXURE-I

54. CHECK LIST

INFORMATION/PARTICULARS TO BE PREPARED BY DEO AND

RO TO BE PROVIDED TO THE OBSERVER ON ARRIVAL.

a) Constituency

i. No. & Name of the Constituency

ii. No. of vulnerable villages/hamlets

iii. Map of the district and map of the constituency highlighting vulnerable
villages/hamlets

b) DEO

i. Name

ii. Batch of service

iii. Date of posting

c) SP/Commissioner for a city

(Please indicate the names as per jurisdiction. If the constituency involves more than
two districts – both the officers should be mentioned)

i. Name

ii. Batch of service

iii. Date of posting

75
d) RO and ARO

i. Name

ii. Designation

iii. Date of joining the designated cadre

iv. Experience in conduct of elections

v. Date of posting

e) Population

i. Male

ii. Female

iii. Total

f) Electorate details

Number of Electors
ELECTORS EPIC Photos in
Male Female Others Service Proxy Overseas Total holders Rolls

g) Electoral roll details

i. Date of publication of revised electoral roll (revised w.r.t. 01-01 ---)

Date Month Year

ii. Whether copies of electoral roll have been supplied to the recognized political
parties

Yes No If yes, date thereof If no, reason

therefor

76
 iii List of polling station wise changes made (a separate sheet to attached)

iv. Addition and deletion since the last publication date

Polling Stations Male Electors Female Electors Total
Original
Additions
Deletions
Change
Final Number

v. Date of printing of supplementary electoral roll (on a/c of continuous updation)

Date Month Year

vi. Preparation of authenticated copies completed and supplied to political

parties on
Date Month Year

h) Polling Stations

a No of polling stations
Yes No
i) Whether the list has been approved by the ECI

ii. Whether all the polling stations have been visited Yes No
by the RO and ARO

iii. Polling Station Details

Total No Single Polling Two PS Three PS Four PS Five PS Six PS More than
of Polling Station location location location location location Six PS
Stations Locations location

77
 iv. Electors details of Polling Stations in the constituency
Total No No of electors attached to the Polling Station
of Polling Less than 300 300-800 801-1000 1001-1200 1201-1500 More than
Stations 1500

i. Identification of critical villages, urban clusters and polling stations

i. Vulnerability mapping done or not

ii. Critical polling stations identified or not (Detailed list with reasons)

j. EVMs/VVPATs
Name of No .of EVMs/ No. of EVMs No. of EVMs Total number Available
VVPATs
constituency required for /VVPATs /VVPATs required number
in reserve marked for
polling booths training

k. Have EVMs been allocated AC-wise by the DEO after Yes No

1st randomization?

Date and location planned for sealing and randomization of EVMs by RO

(i) Date:

(ii) Location:

l. Identification of centres for dispatch, receiving and counting and any

special arrangements
Name of Activity Facilities Space Lighting
Water/ Layout Plan
Location & toilets
Adeq Inad Adeq Inad Adeq Inad Adeq Inad Done Not done

m. Availability of staff

Polling Personnel

78
 Total No of polling No of State Govt. No of State No of Central No of Central
personnel required Official available PSUs officials Govt. Official PSUs officials
for the Constituency available available available

Police personnel

i. The total number of police personnel by designation

SP Dy SP Pls PSls Constables

ii. Requirement of CPF

iii. Operation of police control room(police and RO, DEO) and the
contact numbers

n. Preventive actions taken

i. Arms deposited

ii. Security bonds

iii. Preventive detentions

iv. NSA

v. Externment

vi. Prohibition cases, if applicable

vii. List of persons provided with security cover

viii. Copy of law & order report 1 and 2 sent to State HQ should be
endorsed to Observer daily.

o. Arrangements for implementation of model code of conduct

i. Arrangements for prevention and removal of defacement of property

79
 a. Territorial jurisdiction wise enforcement squads Yes No
formed

b. District media cell constituted or not Yes No

ii. Instructions to all the officers, candidate, political DONE NOT DONE
parties actions envisaged for the lapses

iii. Nodal officer for communicating about the venues, and rallies of
political party/candidates meetings

a. Name and contact details

iv. Arrangements for expenditure observation at the constituency level.

a. Designated officers at constituency level appointed Yes No

v. Preparation of list of prevailing market rates for regular Yes No

campaign material required done

p. Arrangements for procurement of election material and printing of

forms etc.
No of No of green No of paper Whether Whether Whether
indelible ink paper seal strips seals secret seals of sufficient No Statutory/
phials obtained obtained commission of handbook Non- Statutory
obtained received for the Presid- forms etc
ing Officers etc. available
available

q. Randomization of polling personnel

i. Whether data base of polling personnel prepared? Yes No

ii. Date for formation of polling parties

Date Month Year

80
 iii. Date for allocation of polling stations to polling parties

Date Month Year

r. Training of Polling Personnel

Yes No
i. Whether training schedule for the polling personnel
prepared?

ii. Whether schedule for EVM/VVPAT training for the polling Yes No
personnel prepared?

iii. Whether schedule for training of the sector Magistrate Yes No

/ officers prepared?

s. Dispatch arrangements

i. Whether from HQ or any other location,

ii. Name of the location,

iii. Any need for early dispatch to specific polling stations,

iv. If yes, reasons.

t. Receiving arrangements

i. Location,

ii. No of tables for receiving,

iii. Plan for special counters.

u. Strong room location and security arrangement

i Location

ii Security arrangement

v. Counting arrangement

81
i. Appointment of additional AROs, if any, Yes No

ii. Location of counting – whether approval from the ECI, Yes No

iii. Testing of Genesis and operational feasibility, DONE NOT DONE

iv. Arrangement for receiving and counting of Postal Yes No

Ballot Papers.

82
 Annexure -II

55. Arrival/Departure Report of Observers

(To be Submitted Immediately after Arrival / Departure)

Date of Reporting
Name of Observer and code
Email Id
Number and Name of Constituency
Name of the District and State
Mobile No.
Fax No.
Constituency Mobile No.
Constituency Telephone No.
Constituency Fax No.

1. Date of arrival / Departure of Observer ( please

strike out the portion which is not applicable)
2. Was there any break taken by the
Observer from the duty
3. If Yes, give details.
4. Was there late reporting to duty
5. If Yes, by how much time?

Place:

Date: Signature of Observer

83
 “No voter to be left behind”

“No voter to be left behind”

Hkkjr fuokZpu vk;ksx

Election Commission of India
Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001