Elections most transparent, secure: CEC

When Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar formally announced the two-phase 2025 Bihar assembly elections on Monday, he also spoke about a raft of new technologies the Election Commission of India (ECI) was leveraging, the 17 reforms it had undertaken and the upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across the nation.

- Vrinda Tulsian

The CEC described the upcoming elections as the most “transparent, secure and easy” in India’s history, noting ECI’s emphasis on oversight to ensure the integrity of the process.

“Bihar elections this time might be the most transparent, secure, and easy in history of Indian elections. It will be the mother of all elections,” he said.

ECI's expanded use of technology will include the introduction of a mobile deposit facility outside polling booths and the app, ECINet, which allows voters to connect directly with booth level officers (BLOs) for queries or grievances.

With a total deployment of approximately 850,000 election officials, including 453,000 polling personnel, 17,800 micro observers, 28,300 counting officials, and nearly 100,000 Anganwadi sevikas, ECI sought to cover every aspect of the electoral process comprehensively.

ECI has added 12,817 new polling stations across the state, raising the total number of polling booths from 77,895 to 90,712. Number of electors per booth will be capped at 1,200.

Kumar said ECI will use Anganwadi workers at all polling booths to assist in the identification of burga or ghunghat-clad voters.