The State election authority, the Chief Electoral Officer, has initiated steps to put in place an effective mechanism to enable hassle-free webcasting of the election process on the polling day, December 7.
Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar, in a communication addressed to all the district collectors and election officers, sought to know whether the joint collector or any other district-level officer has been nominated as coordinator responsible for live webcasting of polls from feasible polling stations. The officials have been asked to submit details pertaining to feasibility of BSNL network and status of electrical connections at the polling stations as also the information about student volunteers who had been roped in for conducting the proceedings in separate formats.
With respect to student volunteers, the officials concerned should furnish details relating to laptops along with hard disk capacity, operating system and whether the laptops have built-in web camera for webcasting the proceedings. The collectors and district election officials have been directed to inform the CEO’s office about the availability of broadband, WiMAX modems with BSNL as well as web cameras available in the respective districts.
The collectors have also been directed to explore putting in place VHF/HF linkage as a mode of communication at polling stations. With regard to polling stations that are inaccessible, the district authorities should identify and put in place an alternative communication system like digital satellite phone terminal or satellite phones in addition to providing a list of beneficiaries for receiving DSPT instruments/sets in areas where communication is impossible.
Communication links
Senior officials of the election authority are also enquiring about the model adopted in the neighbouring Chhattisgarh where elections were held for sensitive constituencies in the first phase. The officials have requested their Chhattisgarh counterparts to provide details relating to setting up of communication links, reputed agencies that were selected and the cost that is likely to be incurred in the entire process.