Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji
Panaji, Sep 28: A high-level team of the Election Commission of India (ECI) will visit Goa on October 7 and 8 to review the state's preparedness for the upcoming Assembly elections, scheduled for early 2027. The visit will be the second by a senior ECI delegation to Goa in a little over a month.
The delegation will be led by Senior Deputy Election Commissioners Maneesh Garg and Pawan Kumar Sharma. The visit comes less than a month after Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's two-day visit to Goa on September 2 and 3.
On October 7, the ECI team will hold a special meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer, State Police Nodal Officer, District Election Officers, Superintendents of Police and representatives of various enforcement agencies. The delegation will also include Ashish Goyal, Shubra Saxena, Bidharani Konthoujam, Principal Secretary Ajay Kumar, Secretary Binod Kumar and Under Secretary M L Meena.
On October 8, election officers and Superintendents of Police from the state's districts will make separate presentations before the visiting team on preparations in their respective jurisdictions. The session will conclude under the guidance of Garg and Sharma.
Meanwhile, the Chief Electoral Officer's office has stepped up efforts to bring more young and first-time voters into the electoral roll, directing Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to focus on colleges, universities and other educational institutions.
An institutional-level voter registration campaign is being conducted to encourage eligible students to enrol as voters. Electoral Literacy Clubs are also being used to conduct awareness activities, with officials assisting students in filling out voter registration applications. The CEO Goa website also provides facilities for new voter registration and electoral-roll services.
Goa's Assembly elections are due by February 2027, as the five-year term of the incumbent government is set to end in March 2027.