Election Management Plan for Naxal Affected Areas

Introduction: The district of Gadchiroli is one of the most challenging areas to conduct the elections. The district is beset with various problems, but the biggest challenge is posed by the threat of Naxalism and the inaccessible areas. These problems are further compounded by the lack of awareness in the backward tribal population about their democratic right to exercise their adult franchise. Faced with such problems the elections in Gadchiroli used to be traditionally an unsatisfactory exercise. The real turnaround came with the Loksabha Elections of 2009, which were conducted against the most adverse circumstances as will be detailed in the coming pages. For the first time so much of planning went into the election exercise in Gadchiroli and the results were really encouraging. The success of elections was certified by the then Chief Election Commissioner of India, by way of a commendation letter addressed to the Collector of Gadchiroli Shri Atul Patne. The lessons learnt during the Lok Sabha elections helped further refine the electoral exercise and the Assembly Elections of 2009 were an even bigger success in Gadchiroli. Encouraged by the success the district administration put together all the steps taken in the Election Management Plan in the form of a Standard Operating Procedure for conducting elections in the Naxal affected areas, much on the lines of the SOP for the disaster management. This SOP was then used to conduct the ZP elections, Gram Panchayat elections and finally the Vidhan Parishad elections of 2010. The EMPs success has been obvious from the commendation that it has got at the various forums. In the recently conducted Zonal Symposium by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Goa, Gadchirolis Election Management Plan has been adjudged as the best. ECI has since conducted Jharkhand elections on the lines of Gadchiroli plan. Further the district collector Shri Atul Patne has been invited by the ECI on 10 days deputation to Bihar, where he provided counseling to district authorities of various districts of Bihar in conducting the successful Assembly elections in the month of November 2010. In next few pages are attached the commendation letters from various authorities.

EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

lection process is of paramount importance in a democracy. To conduct election in fair, fearless and peaceful environment is the prerequisite of a democracy. It is the duty of the administration to ensure that voters can exercise their vote on their own without any extraneous pressure. The success of democracy depends on fearless elections.

Nowadays many types of problems are creating a hurdle in the development of the democratic process in the country. Terrorism, Naxalism and such problems are getting more violent with the passage of time. Taking into account of all these problems of Gadchiroli the Election Management Plan was prepared to conduct the Loksabha, Vidhansabha, Zilla Parishad, and Gram Panchayat elections successfully.

The district of Gadchiroli came into existence on 26/08/82 after bifurcation of erstwhile Chandrapur district. It is situated at the East & extreme end of Maharashtra State. Bhandara district is situated towards north side, East shares border of Rajnandagaon and Baster naxal affected district of Chhattisgarh State. Towards south, it shares borders with Karimnagar, Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh, these neighboring districts are naxal affected. Naxalism in the district complicates every issue in the district. As it is due to forests most of the district is difficult to access, and threat of naxal violence makes the job of administration very challenging.
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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Chapter 1: Naxal Violence During the Election year 2009 in Gadchiroli

Maharashtra bore the brunt of the red surge during the year 2009, with the Communist Party of India-Maoists (CPI-Maoist) deliberately focusing attention on a single District, Gadchiroli. Here, all but one Maoist related incidents in the State were recorded. There is evidence that the Maoists are planning to transform this District into a liberated zone. Some major operations carried out by Naxals in this district areFebruary 1, 2009: 15 Police personnel, including a Sub-Inspector, were killed by CPI-Maoist cadres while patrolling the forest area around the Morke village in the Gadchiroli District. May 21, 2009: 16 Police personnel, including five women constables, were killed during a threehour long encounter with a group of armed CPI-Maoist cadres near the hills of Hatti Tola in Gadchiroli District. October 8, 2009: CPI-Maoist cadre killed at least 18 Policemen, including Sub-Inspector C.S. Deshmukh, in an ambush in the dense forests near Laheri Police Station in Gadchiroli District. Out of the above three the operation on 01.02.2009 was the most gruesome Naxal atrocity in the history of Maharashtra. Naxals not only gunned down 15 policemen, including a subinspector, but also beheaded and dismembered their bodies. The incident took place in the jungles of Markegaon village in Dhanora tehsil of Gadchiroli district on Sunday. A short-range patrol of 14 policemen from Gyrapatti police armed outpost is learnt to have fought valiantly against more than 100 Naxals for one and-a-half hours before their ammunition dried up. The brutal outlaws then chased the surviving cops, taking their own time in killing them one by one with medieval cruelty. An eyewitness told police said that the Naxals kicked around the decapitated heads and other body parts of their victims. The Naxals also booby-trapped the bodies of the dead policemen with explosives after the encounter. The highly mutilated bodies could be retrieved only after defusing the explosives. This is the worst-ever attack on police by Naxalites in Maharashtra.

EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Maoists seem to have developed the capabilities of taking the security forces head on. Two out of the three major attacks on the SFs occurred during the Parliamentary and Assembly elections in the Gadchiroli District, when additional forces had been deployed. Especially in the above attack the slain policemen were the commandos of specialized C-60 force raised by Maharashtra to deal with the Naxal menace. The intensity, severity and frequency of Maoist attacks is on a sure upward trajectory. Following statistics will substantiate it Election Lok Sabha-04 Vidhan Election-04 Sabha Attacks police 12 13 9 13 ( 3 policemen lost their lives) 47 made on Arson 7 1 2 23 Murder 1 2 6 9 Other activities 3 3 1 10 violent Total 23 19 18 55

Z.P. Election -07 Lok Sabha - 09

Total

33

18

17

115

The incident in bold fonts took place when we were conducting ASTHA operation in Gadchiroli to educate and inspire the voters to vote. All the electoral roles were physically verified with the help of police forces. During implementation of ASTHA OPERATION naxalites attacked on the police party named as C-60 at Mungner forest in Dhanora Tahsil, 3 brave policemen lost their lives.

A Burnt Down State Transport bus EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Bombs placed on the roads

There were bombs placed everywhere on the roads. On the poll day 4 attacks on polling parties happened even before they left for the booths. 2 attacks took place after the poll. The naxals instructed people against voting and threatened them that they will be killed by slitting their throats if they didnt follow their diktats.

For last thirty years Gadchiroli and adjoining areas have been suffering from the naxal violence. Naxalites adopt all sort of methods to derail the democratic governance in these areas. Their prime targets have been the police personnel and anyone which they consider is against their way thinking. They resort to tactics like giving inflammatory democracy speeches and aimed against the the

boycotting

elections,

distributing threat letters against participating in the election exercise, killing innocent people and policemen to create terror, causing wide scale destruction of public and private properties, blocking the roads by felling trees on them and so on. Some of their activities can be seen in following photographs
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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

The banner threatening against participating in elections

Destruction of private trucks

The naxals burnt down vehicles, broke the roads in Gadchiroli taluka as well as the Dhanora talukas. These roads were the only conneting links between the district and the states of Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. They kept bombs on the roads, dug the roads from beneath and blocked them with trees.

A road blocked by felling the tree

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Naxalites did not spare even the public places of worship. During elections, out of their desperation they targeted the church, the gotul, and vandalized the religious objects

Administrative Issues- Gadchiroli typifies the naxal areas. These areas are unfortunately called as punishment postings. The things will become clearer if we look at the situation in Gadchiroli. In Gadchiroli more than 40 % of the posts belonging to the Class I category are lying vacant. Most of the Class II officers thus are handling more than 40% extra workload, for example the taluka inspector for land records is also having the having the additional charge of District Officer for Land records, the Resident Deputy Collector is having the responsibilities of Additional Collector as well as several other departments. Amongst the officers more than 50% are beyond 50 years of age and almost 27% are more than 55 years in age. The officers having disciplinary enquiry running against them, the officers coming on reinstatement after suspension and the ones who cannot be accommodated anywhere else have been sent to Gadchiroli on posting. The lack of full strength of government officials is further compounded by the officials who, though in the district, are either of dubious reputation or totally demotivated. This creates a highly negative atmosphere to undertake the responsibility of conducting elections in the 15000 sq km vast expanse of the district. The Vidhansabha elections were to be conducted against such a dangerous backdrop. It not only required meticulous planning but the confidence of everyone involved in the process was also to be ensured. Our planning had not only to address the security issues but the people were to be inspired to come to exercise their democratic right of voting. Now let us see what can be the major concerns in conducting elections in an LWE affected area.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Chapter 2: MAJOR CONCERNS

1. Fear of the voters due to naxal threat- As in the Gadchiroli Naxals oppose holding of elections everywhere in the country. They try every trick in the book to disrupt election exercise and make it unsuccessful. Their main threat is that of violence and causing harm to life and property of government officials. They dont even spare the common man who chose to vote. The problem is that Naxals dont believe in democracy and are against any symbol of democratic freedoms. 2. Demoralization in Security Forces due to the fatal attacks- Forces in Gadchiroli like every where else are prone to getting depressed under the sustained and successful attacks on themselves. The incident in Laheri was so gruesome and shocking that it caused wide spread uneasiness amongst the security forces. The election plan needs to motivate them as they form the backbone of a safe and fair election exercise. 3. Demoralization and widespread fear in the poll officials in the backdrop of violent incident of past polls- demoralization is also set in the poll officials who are a highly vulnerable lot as they generally go without arms. They are also at the forefront of the election exercise and are most vulnerable to the terrorist attacks. An attack on one election party can cause a cascading effect of fear and demoralization in the whole administrative machinery and may render the whole election exercise infructuous. 4. Possibility of any untoward incident anytime- Naxals had gathered in thousands in the forests of the Gadchiroli. They were desperately trying to cause some big incident. Laheri incident was an act of desperation only on the part of naxalites. They even attacked and killed the policemen who were spreading the message of voter rights under Operation Astha. 5. Lack of communication facilities in 144 polling booths located in the interiors- There are many booths which are located deep inside the forests. These are the areas where even mobile signals cant penetrate. No roads could have been constructed yet because of the opposition of forest department and naxalite threat of blowing up the roads on the other end. Due to their threat no civil contractor has come forward to construct the road.
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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

6. No established logistics plan for LWE affected areas- For these type of areas there is no established logistics plan. The naxal areas are generally densely forested and tribal regions. There are no pucca approach roads or other in travel facilities available in these areas. The naxals target all govt vehicles especially the ones carrying election and other govt officials. In the stretches where there is no road, the officials have to walk to the polling booth. The distance is generally quite long sometimes more than 10 kms. Here the route sanitization is very important. The guides are also required to traverse through the jungles. Sometimes due to extremely dense and dangerous forests, the officials have to be airlifted. There has to be a fool proof coordination of all the resources available at the disposal of the district administration. Logistics plan is an important component the overall election plan prepared and executed by the district administration and most importantly has to form an integral part of the security plan in the district. 7. Inadequate staff from central government- the staff from the central government organizations and departments was not available in adequate numbers. In the difficult naxal affected areas generally central govt offices are either not there or are severely understaffed. To address these concerns we developed a multi pronged strategy. It involved addressing all the concerns discussed above and also has scope of dealing with any other unforeseen eventuality.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Chapter 3: Election Management Plan

The major components of the proposed Election Management Plan can be shown as under

Election Management Plan Security Plan/Logistics Plan Communication Plan Voter Education Plan Employees Welfare Plan

As can be seen from above diagrams there are four major dimensions to the proposed election plan. But it must be kept in mind that none of these dimensions can be planned for in isolation. The success in one area depends on the success in all the rest. We will unfold our plan as per the concerns that we have seen in the previous section. First and foremost in Gadchiroli and other LWE affected areas the security concerns have to be addressed. For this end following points have been implemented-

3.1 Security Plan/ Logistics Plan

Reduction in polling time from 7 o clock to 3 o clock- This was done to enhance the safety of the polling parties which had gone into the interiors of Gadchiroli to conduct the polls. Every morning they would start from the base camp on foot into the jungles. This takes lot of time and spending this much time in returning again exposes the election officials and the election material to a substantial danger, more so in the night. Because of advancing the polling close time, the early winding up becomes possible, the officials could return back during daytime only. This helped security forces in ensuring their security as during night time the naxals become very dangerous because they know the jungle very intricately and its very difficult to fight them in the night. This
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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

measure not only enhances the security of the election process but also ensures that the moral of the election officials and their near and dear ones remains high. This will encourage more and more officials to turn up for the election duty. Route reorganization The routes towards the polling booths were reorganized on concentric circles basis. These were - outer core and inner core. Inner core was fixed to be inside the 30 km radius from the headquarters and the outer core was outside it. The strategies for logistics were different for both the cores. SDPO and SDO (Sub division returning officers) studied and made a list of all the vulnerable/critical polling booths. Vulnerable were the booth which had a threat from naxals and critical were the one which had a history of political or naxal incidents already having taken place during previous elections. A total of 35 permanent base camps and 30 temporary base camps were established. The permanent base camps were inside the police stations themselves and the temporary ones were established in locations chosen by the police administration. They were mainly schools, PHCs etc. 480 polling parties were dispatched on base camps. From these base camps the parties had to walk inside the jungles to the destined booths. At all times heavy security accompanied these parties. Dispatch of outer core booths was first done. Dispatch Management Plan for Security

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Last Party- First Drop Plan this was done to enhance security to the parties conducting elections deep into the interiors. The parties which had to travel either through more difficult terrain or long distances were dispatched first well in advance. For example if a party was to leave on 16 th it was called on 14th, stayed there for 15th and left for the polling booth on 16 th. The parties destined for inner core polling booths were called on 15 th itself and dispatched the same day.

Time slot and date of distribution of material was communicated to the concern parties well in advance. The parties going on same route were called at the same time. This was a departure from the earlier practice when parties were given material polling booth number wise. This time same route parties were given definite time slots and fixed tables. This helped in mentally preparing the people involved for the task ahead. This made sure that the parties destined for various polling booths on the same route left for their destinations at the same time and quickly. This prevented any kind of chaos due to crowding at the material distribution centers. This also ensured that parties were not delayed thereby their security was not compromised and they left for their destinations in time.

The distribution of all important election material was done as per the following plan

As can be seen from the above diagram the material was delivered simultaneously for many routes. Thus buses for different routes left at the different times, but buses
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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

belonging to one time slot of routes left at the same time. This had a surprise element and did not give much time to the mischievous elements to plan any kind of interference in the smooth dispatch of the material. Due to this strategy parties reached in time and got time to settle down on the booth. Sorties by chopper- in the areas where threat perception was high or the booths were very difficult to reach on feet, choppers were used to air lift the polling parties and materials. The choppers were always kept on a standby to ensure that backup personnel and medical care can be supplied immediately in case of any eventuality. This inspired great deal of confidence in polling officials. At no point the polling parties were left to fend for themselves. But use of helicopters had some surprise elements also. The use of choppers is not as straightforward as it sounds. For example the range of these helicopters goes down considerably when used in the heat of the months of May/June. Further there has to be a tradeoff between the fuel and the cargo. If the tank is full then only half the number of passengers can be taken for the full range. Issues like these complicate the situation and must be factored in beforehand itself. If more sorties are expected than its better to have more number of helicopters. Total three helicopters were deployed in Gadchiroli district1) Chetak 2) MI-17 3) Pawan Hans

These helicopters played a great role in conducting election at 96 polling stations which were situated in inaccessible areas in deep forest. 136 presiding officers with the EVM were brought back by the helicopters

Micro observers were present with the polling parties at all points of time.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

3.1.1 Deployment of Security Force The issue of security is a paramount one in conducting election in dangerous areas like the ones we find in Naxal infested parts of Gadchiroli. The numbers of security personnel is important but more than that their deployment has to be planned to the last detail. We really put lot of time in deciding the deployment position to the very last man.

Security Personnel doing sorties inside the jungle

A manual mine detector

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

A total of 38 companies of security forces were deployed in the whole exercise. Out which 12 companies of CRPF 21 companies of SRP 5 companies of Indian Reserve Battalion This inspired confidence among voters and the poll officials. Further the helicopters were used to lift the vulnerable polling parties. Back up Security Measures- besides planning for successful conduct of the election its equally important to plan for any kind of contingency. This was done by way of taking following steps Availability of blood donors list. Team of 45 specialist doctors. Ambulances with paramedical staff at all PHC s To meet any eventuality, the administration made necessary arrangements, kept ready blood of all groups, oxygen cylinders, and life saving drugs. Booth shifting to conduct the peaceful election, location of 52 polling booth shifted. Supply of additional EVMs- On 167 Polling stations additional EVMs were supplied. It helps to tackle the cases of any failure in operation of EVMs. CC TV on counting room

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

3.2 Communication Plan

Installation of 100 sets of VHF-GPSAs is typical of most of the naxal infested areas, Gadchiroli has most of its polling booths deep in the dense forests. These are interior and dangerous zones. No communication provider comes forward to install their communication infrastructure in these areas. In past there have been many cases of naxal attacks and bombings of the mobile towers and telephone exchanges in Gadchiroli as well as other naxalite zones. Therefore there are no communication facilities available in most of the polling booths in the interiors. In this kind of scenario satellite communication is the only way out. But there are patches of forests which are so dense that even the satellite signals are unable to penetrate the thick canopy of the tree cover. Talking on police wireless sets is useless if sensitive information is to be passed, as the naxalites have instruments to hear over the wireless transmission.

To overcome this situation the idea of VHF GPS was gotten approved by the Election Commission. VHF based GPS came in handy as normal GPS would not work inside the jungles because satellite signals cannot penetrate the thick canopy of the jungle. These were installed on o o o o o
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53 zonal officers vehicles 16 on district administrations vehicles 17 on Ambulances 13 with the polling parties Anti landmine vehicles

EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

o Choppers. Installation of VHF GPS has proved to be a boon as not only communication facilities could be ensured during the election period but the vehicles carrying the men and material could be tracked most of the times in real time.

3.2.1 Use of IT
Control Centre The control center was not only coordinating all the official communication and tracking of the election exercise it was also a single point reference for keeping the public informed about the progress of the election and later on the results. This was a unique exercise undertaken in Gadchiroli to facilitate information sharing with the voters. The district administration undertook a major initiative by spreading the information about this facility in all the local languages like Gondi, Madiya, Marathi, Hindi etc. The voters could call up the control room and talk with the officials in their own language to procure the information regarding the candidates credentials. This facility got very good response from the citizens

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

SMS Facility- Besides this call centre booth information was also available through Mobile SMS. For the voters the SMS facility was made available to find out the information on the voters registration number and the polling station number. Just by sending a messege in the format of

Info>ele>epic

the voters could get the desired information. This facility encouraged lot many

voters to participate in the election process.

For ex : Type : Epic<space>Gad<space>Epic No or Voter Name

IVRS facility with multi language support - besides the above facilities IVRS facility was also provided to the voters where, by just dialing a number, voters could access following informationthis facility provided following services 1. Information about Sr. No., part No. of electoral roll and name of polling station in local languages. 2. Alternate document required for voting when epic is not available. 3. Lodging complaints for violation of model code of conduct.

Worked as follows :
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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

After connecting, for select language please dial 1 for Marathi 2 for Hindi 3 for English 4 for Gondi 5 for Madia Please dial constituency number 1 for Aheri 2 for Wadsa 3 for Gadchiroli After dialing constituency number 1 for booth information 2 for information of epic card 3 for election related complaints 4 for operator System replied the complete address of polling booth to the voter by Telephonic system. GIS- for efficient area mapping and placement of various types security and other resources. Satellite phone- for ensuring communication in the areas uncovered by mobile or landline telephone network. Live training- using the Video Conferencing facilities the polling officials were trained in their respective talukas itself. Use of mobile and DTH TV

Relay of Figures of Counting of votes there was arrangement for live election counting updates shown on LCD projector screen at Tahasil level.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Counting Updates through Mobile SMS After every one hour, the result of 1st three candidates was made available on SMS. Besides these IT based interventions pamphlets in Madia, Gondi and Telugu languages were distributed. These not only informed people about the above facilities but also generated awareness for those who would not call the helpline to get information Another major IT initiative undertaken by the District administration was to develop web portal www.rozgar-kundali.org to give the information about the schemes of employment with search engine. During the training of EVM, the demonstration of this website was also given to the students in the colleges, ITI. On this website the facility for live counting updates was provided.

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3.3 Voters Education Plan

It must be kept in mind that despite the best strategy and efforts of the administration the election could fail without the active support of the most important constituents i.e. the general public. In order to enlist cooperation of the citizens extensive voters education campaign was launched. Program of electoral literacy among voters to increase their confidence in the electoral democracy The revenue administration ensured that its officials like talathi, tehsildar etc were made fully acquainted with the working of the EVMs. They were then entrusted with the responsibility of educating citizens in the use of these machines. In the market places the demos were held to arouse the interest of the voters. At every tehsil headquarter and at every polling booth these machines were taken and voters were thoroughly educated in their use. In this regard the Election Commission had sent a CD for training voters in the use of EVMs. This CD was used to train the young voters by playing the CD in various Gotuls and other areas where people congregate. This initiative was done with the help of NGOs like Nehru Yuva Kendra, Jawahar Vidyalaya, Ghot etc.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Astha operation The officials from Police department visited village and read the names of the voter list and name of polling station. This helped in sorting out discrepancies in the voters list as well as brought police closer to the people. Besides simply truth proofing of the voters list the officials used this opportunity to also explain about various welfare schemes. Lokshahi Saksharta (literacy) programme It was launched to create awareness & confidence building among the voters. The program has active participation of Nehru Yuva Kendra, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, and other NGOs. Here also people were told about various welfare schemes introduced by the Govt., and also the values of democracy. EVMs were kept in the weekly Bazaar days and demonstration was made to voters about voting through EVM.

Police men conducting voter literacy campaign

EVMs kept in the market place

26 Revenue Officials demonstrating the EVMs to villagers EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

A village Gotul

Youth was involved in a big way. Use of Gotuls (youth dormitories) was made to encourage the voters to participate in election process. District administration arranged the awareness programme in the Gotuls with the help of tribal youths. It gave good results e.g. youths from Marda, Rajoli, Savela came forward to escort polling parties during elections.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

3.4 Employee Welfare Plan

During the whole election exercise one thing which was never lost sight of was the fact that the successful conduct of the election depends on the Election Duty employees, most of whom are doing something totally out of the way and totally different from their daily routine. Therefore Election Staff welfare was given paramount importance. First let us look at the unique steps taken by the district administration to implement the randomization of employees. Special Randomization of Employees The randomization of the employees has always been a matter of inconvenience for the election officials. They have to go out of their talukas as well as their assembly areas on their election duty most of the times. This situations becomes specially challenging in Gadchiroli where the distances are large and inter-assembly duties will expose the election staff to the substantial risk of attack by the naxals. Therefore following exemptions were requested from the Election Commission which granted them promptly considering the special requirements of the district Exemption was provided in randomization from inter assembly. Partial randomization was made as per the dispatch plan. Most importantly randomization was done on the basis of age i.e. Staff below 45 years age was deployed on the highly sensitive, remote polling stations. It helps the polling parties and the protection parties to travel though deep forest to the polling booths safely. Taking into account the inconvenience that the election officials put up with, special provisions were made. Besides the top notch security measures there were many welfare measures were also undertaken to ensure maximum possible convenience to the staff doing their duty in highly adverse conditions. To give all the requisite amenities to the officials the district administration formed various committees to coordinate the activities. In the previous elections the experience of the officials entrusted with conducting the elections was way below satisfactory
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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

as far as their residential, travel, food and other facilities that they were entitled for. In Gadchiroli due to the Naxal threat on average 12- 15 kms distance had to be covered on foot in the jungle. Taking into account of this situation following committees were formed at district/sub/ taluka places for conduct of smooth & peaceful election Sr.No. 1 Name of Committee Health Committee Members of the Committee 1) Civil Surgeon , Officer, ZP, 3) RMO, Gadchiroli , Officer, PHC, 2 Food Committee 1) Edu. Officer,ZP 2) Dy. CEO,(Women & Child Welfare) ZP 3) DSO 3 Niwas Committee 4) BDO. 2) ARO 3) Civil 4) Medical 2) District Health

1) Ex. Engg. B&C Surgeon 4) RDC 5) Asstt. Engg., C.O.(Nagarpalika)

6) Edu. Officer,

7)

Transport Committee

1) ARTO, 3) Tahsildar

2) Dept. Manager MSRTC,

Committee

for

providing

1) DIO,

2) RDC , 3) N.T. Election,

information in district level 6 District level disaster 1) RDC ,2) Ex. Engg. B&C, Surgeon, 4) ARO 3) Civil

Management committee

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The functions of the above mentioned committees can be seen in brief as following1. Health Committee a). Supply of medical kit Polling parties were dispatched to BASE CAMP two days before poll. From base camp polling parties moved on foot for distance of 10 to 15 km. considering possibility of blood pressure, fever, snake bite, a medical kit was provided with sufficient medicines. A quick clot powder was also supplied to stop bleeding. A medical kit was supplied to 925 polling parties containing following medicines. Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Name of the Medicine Tab. Paracetmol Tab. Gelucil Tab. Cetrizine Tab. Sorbitrate Tab. Furaxone Tab. Dyclomine Bandage roll with cotton ORS Pocket Antiseptic powder Quantity 20 tab 20 tab 20 tab 20 tab 20 tab 20 tab 1 pkt. 10 pkt. 1 bot. Remarks (useful for ) Fever, Body pain Acidity etc. Etching , Alergy Heart disease Dysentry Stomach pain To cover the wound For Dehydration For treatment of wound

24 Hrs medical facility A special team of 45 doctors was kept ready. A team of specialist doctors from Govt. Medical College Nagpur was kept ready. To meet any eventuality, the administration made necessary arrangements, kept ready blood of all groups, oxygen cylinders, and life saving drugs, ambulance at PHCs also.
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2. Food committee Food was made available to the polling parties at a reasonable price,( the rates were fixed by the committee) at material distribution centre. For making arrangement of of lunch, dinner to the polling staff at the place of their duty and base camp. Supply of food through Anganwadi Sevikas / Women of self help group.

3. Niwas committee To arrange the lodging and boarding facility Drinking Water, Mattresses, coolers, electricity, generators these facilities were provided. Facility of locker system was provided. A team of doctors was also kept ready on these places. A fire brigade and sufficient security force was also kept ready on these places. 4. Transport committee Under the supervision of ARTO, Dept. manager MSRTC and concerned ARO committee was formed. Number of Govt. and private vehicle is very less. For requisition of private vehicles from neighboring district. Committee made a very good arrangement of vehicles for polling parties, police, without any problem. Committee also prepared a route wise plan for parking of vehicles at the distribution centre.

5. Disaster Management committee and Staff Welfare Helpline. Committee was formed for receiving any information about any type of problem on telephone no. 106. A control room was formed to give the information to polling personnel about the arrangements and also for receiving any complaint regarding their arrangements, appointment etc.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

The committee was ready with information about all telephone numbers of PHCs / no. of drivers of ambulance, all officials, list of blood donors etc. Other steps taken for the employees welfare were Effective training of EVM through mock polling booth. Help line for staff on telephone no. 106 Supply of medical kits to 925 polling parties. It contains quick blood clot powder and 20 medicines. Supply of packets of dry food. e.g. tea bags, snacks. Supply of food through Anganwadi sevikas/women of self help group. Election Employees Welfare Facility of entertainment was provided on the base camp for the stress management. e.g. TV, carom board, playing cards. Facility of locker system at dispatch center was provided. Drinking water, Mattresses, coolers, generators these facilities was provided. Election Employees Welfare A team of doctors were also kept ready on these places. A fire brigade and sufficient security force was also kept ready on these places. Facility of food, health check up was kept ready at receiving center Insurance cover of Rs. 10 lakh was provided to each employee.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

The success of the electoral exercise undertaken in Gadchiroli was expressed in the Public Confidence. Overcoming all the obstacles, large no. of voters exercised their franchise without fear. The percentage of the voting gone up to 67%, it shows beyond doubt that the public had full confidence in the democracy. Elections as it is are a very dynamic event in nature. But in the final analyses it remains a human problem and challenge to deal with. If we remain committed to democratic principles, use our common sense and take maximum steps to make our election officials feel at home then only we can achieve the kind of success we achieved in Gadchiroli. The coordination between the revenue officials and various security personnel including the district police must be complete. Without this there can be no elections in difficult areas. We must strive to keep the motivation levels high at all the times. The presence of senior officials at all times in the district is absolutely mandatory. In Gadchiroli, during these elections it was made sure that the senior police as well as revenue officials travelled extensively to keep the election officials and security personnel alert at all the times. The helicopters were pressed into service at the shortest notice and for once the whole district was accessible. This paper is an attempt at showing an indicative list of steps that can be taken to make the elections happen smoothly in LWE affected areas. It does not claim to be an exhaustive strategy as there are various factors both topographical as well as cultural that must be covered while formulating election strategy for different areas. But the strategy that we have used can certainly provide a reference point and can provide a very strong framework for formulating area specific plans.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

Analysis for the purpose of evaluation The proposed EMP has contributed in realization of following administrative goalsSimplification of the Procedure- Due its SoP Type nature, the EMP as pioneered in Gadchiroli has reduced most of the confusion involved while conducting elections in a Naxal infested area like Gadchiroli. The plan has tried to bring maximum number of the factors involved in the election exercise into light and made them amenable to manipulation by the district administration. Things like Logistics plan and Communication plan have been worked out in the most innovative way very suited to the Gadchiroli and similar areas. e-Governance- Our EMP has made extensive and intensive use of ICT in its implementation. ICT has been an integral part of the Communication Plan element of the overall Election Management Plan. We have made use of technologies like VSAT based video conferencing, GPS tracking of all the Election vehicles, Call centre for providing the info on the election process to the general public etc. Reduction in unproductive expenditure- with the prior planning to the last possible detail, a lot of wastage of time and money was averted. Especially logistics plan helped avoid lot of chaos and wastage of election officials time. With properly phased out elections and fool proof planning for the security, the repeat polls were minimized resulting in reduced expenditure. Making the administration citizen centric- the motto of the EMP is ensure that the poor and disadvantage can exercise their democratic right to vote. This EMP has withstood the test of time and for last two years we are conducting successful elections in Gadchiroli resulting in higher voter turnout with each election. This shows that our plan has made the voters confident in the working of the administration. We have gone to great lengths in imparting the education to the voters regarding the election process and it forms and integral factor in the success of the plan. The call centre for the voters was very helpful in resolving the disputes regarding the voters registration in the districts voters list. Following is an analysis as to how the EMP fared on objective parameters which are important to evaluate its success34
EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

1. Replicable- The EMP has proven to be very robust and replicable as is obvious from its application in the Jharkhand elections and the commendation it has received at various forums. The State Chief Election Commissioner has shown interest in replicating this plan in other districts of the state as well and especially in the naxal affected district of Chandrapur and Gondia. 2. Easily Implementable- The EMP is easily implementable as it is mainly centered on using the available resources in the most efficient manner. The plan channelizes these resources in a very coordinated fashion to ensure that no aspect of the whole election exercise remains untouched at any stage during the electoral exercise. The innovation made using the ICT are fairly simple ones to replicate and given the expertise of Gadchiroli in conducting elections, the required training is always at hand in the form of experienced elections officials from the district. 3. Benefits which are measured quantitatively- the voting percentage in Gadchiroli turned out to be 67% in the Assembly elections of 2009, which is way better than achieved in the metro cities like Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nagpur. There was least number of incidents of naxal disruptions during the election. Not even a single election official was hurt due naxal violence or otherwise. 4. Implementable by all the levels/other departments- the EMP has several components which are useful for other departments as well. The VHF GPS first used during the elections provided us a model to develop the efficient tracking system for the ambulance and the PDS trucks. Similarly the video conferencing facilities developed during the election have been successfully integrated into the distance education model implemented in the Project Dhanakur. 5. Direct benefit to the public- The elections in Gadchiroli resulted in strengthening the democratic system in Gadchiroli and reestablished peoples faith in the administration. The confidence generated in one election carried on to the successful completion of other elections and in the just conducted Vidhan Parishad elections in November 2010, the polling percentage went up as high 87%
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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli

6. Successful implementation- the implementation has been most successful as is evident by the increasing voting percentages and the all round praise that Gadchirolis EMP has been receiving. The biggest success of the EMP is reestablishing the democratic credentials in the district which has been subjected to the vexatious anti democratic propaganda by the naxalites.

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EMP By ATUL PATNE, the Collector, Gadchiroli