With just a few more months left for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the district administration of Kottayam has kick-started the proceedings to ensure a smooth conduct of the elections.
The authorities have already commenced training programmes at various centres for government staff in the district on the election proceedings and the functioning of electronic voting machines and Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines. The programme, which will continue till January 31, will cover 9,300 government employees including 3,300 employed with the Revenue Department.
At the same time, first phase training for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), clerks in elections departments, and deputy tahsildars have already been completed.
Further, training will be given to 100 sectoral officers and 1,314 employees in the Revenue Department at respective taluks on Monday. The classes for 1,564 booth level officers (BLOs) will be held on January 17 and 18 in special batches. The remaining 6,000 employees of various departments will get training between January 19 and 31.
Meanwhile, the training for the 180 employees in the district Collectorate will come to a close by Tuesday .
Campus Ambassadors
Besides officers, training will be given to 52 campus ambassadors and representatives of various political parties on January 18.The training programmes are being led by the nodal officer B. Ashok Kumar and assistant nodal officers Benny M. Jerome and P. V. Jayesh.