Election Commission of India (ECI) concluded a one-day orientation programme for media nodal officers, social media nodal officers, and district public relations officers at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi, on Thursday.
In a press release, ECI deputy director P. Pawan informed that the orientation was aimed at enhancing coordination and preparedness of election officials in an evolving media landscape.
The commission stated that media officers from 28 States and eight UTs participated in the orientation programme.
The training programme aims to develop an effective communication strategy to ensure proactive information dissemination, counter misinformation, and promote voter awareness through various media platforms, in accordance with the legal framework i.e. the RP Act 1950 & 1951; Registration of Elector Rules 1960, Conduct of Election Rules 1961 and the instructions issued by ECI from time to time.
In his address, CEC Gyanesh Kumar acknowledged the pivotal role of media as a key stakeholder in the electoral process. He emphasized the importance of factual, timely and transparent communication in upholding the trust of voters in the electoral processes in a digitally mediated information world.
CEC also underlined that media officers must be proactive in communicating accurate information and rise to the challenge of ensuring that voters are correctly informed and empowered to discern facts from narratives without factual basis.
Meanwhile, a two-day national training programme comprising two DEOs, 12 EROs & 217 BLOs from West Bengal commenced at IIIDEM on Thursday. It said that the initiative forms part of the broader training plan for the capacity augmentation of grassroots election functionaries as envisaged by the Commission during the CEO’s Conference held at IIIDEM on March 4, 2025.