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ECI briefs Central Observers in view of the ongoing General Election to the Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala and Puducherry

1. Chief Election Commissioner, Shri Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Dr. S.S. Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi, today held a review meeting for the Central Observers (General, Police, Expenditure) deployed across the States of Assam, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry, where Assembly Elections are scheduled to be held on April 9, 2026.
2. A total of 282 Central Observers along with the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of Assam, Kerala and Puducherry attended the briefing through videoconferencing. Details of the Observers are as follows:

 

NUMBER OF CENTRAL OBSERVERS DEPLOYED IN GENERAL ELECTIONS in ASSAM, KERALA and PUDUCHERRY
Name of the State/UT	No. of ACs	No. of General Observers deployed	No. of Police Observers deployed	No. of Expenditure Observers deployed	Total Central Observers Deployed
Assam	126	51	35	50	136
Kerala	140	51	17	40	108
Puducherry	30	17	4	17	38
TOTAL	296	119	56	107	282

3. The Commission instructed the Observers to ensure that Elections are held in a festive mood, free & fair and free of any kind of intimidation, violence & inducement.
4. The Commission also emphasised upon the strict enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct and prompt action in case of any complaints of violations.
5. The observers were also asked to well publicise their contact numbers and place and time of hearing the complaints from the public/political parties/candidates or their agents.
6. They were also directed to oversee if trainings of Presiding Officers have been done properly with special emphasis on timely feeding of 2-hourly and close of poll voter turnout and other data on voter turnout module of ECINET, proper application of indelible ink, filling up of form 17-C and sharing with the polling agents present at close of poll, deletion of mock poll data amongst others.
7. Observers were also directed to ensure availability of assured minimum facilities at all polling stations including mobile phone deposit facility and benches in voter queues.
8. Webcasting monitoring control room arrangements should be properly checked and trial run conducted in presence of all the staff posted there for monitoring, who should be well trained to identify and flag errors, if any.

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PK/GDH/RP