00:00Big breaking news coming in. Changes have been made within the Election Commission of India.
00:04An SIR declaration is now out of the online form everywhere.
00:10I repeat, the SIR declaration is now out of the online form everywhere,
00:15including the states where SIR is still in practice, where currently the exercise is on.
00:20Which means SIR is a separate declaration now.
00:24Fresh orders are being pressed in ACI for transparent functioning.
00:29Meeting agendas will now be circulated.
00:32Minutes of meeting will be issued now.
00:35And this was, according to what reports were coming in, was probably not happening earlier.
00:40I want to immediately bring in Aishwarya Paliwal on that.
00:43Aishwarya, these are interesting changes that have come in, but
00:45is it really possible that the minutes of meeting were not being circulated or issued earlier?
00:50What are you hearing about?
00:52What primarily is the big statement of SIR not added to the online form?
00:57What does it mean?
00:59Well, you know, Pooja, this is one of the things that both the Election Commission,
01:03in fact, were speaking about.
01:05They also had written letters.
01:06What they really wanted was more transparency.
01:08And that's exactly what the Election Commission and the Chief Election Commissioner,
01:12Gyanesh Kumar, is now looking at.
01:14The meeting agendas, for some of the meetings,
01:16they were not being circulated just or they were being circulated just before the meeting began.
01:21So this is something that both the ECs felt should be more transparent.
01:25That's why going ahead, what we will see,
01:27these agendas being circulated well in advance and the minutes of the meeting,
01:31what really was being discussed, it was being done.
01:35But in some of the meetings, that is something that was missing.
01:38Now, it is mandatory that for each and every meeting,
01:41the high-level meetings that take place within the ECI,
01:44for all of them, the agendas will be circulated,
01:46minutes will be made, and the minutes will also be circulated.
01:49With regards to the IT department, Pooja,
01:51we have seen how there were several questions that were being asked.
01:54The functioning of the IT department wasn't the scrutiny.
01:57Now, if there are any kind of changes, especially in the IT department,
02:00that is something which will now, Pooja, go to the committee.
02:02Once the committee approves it, only then will those changes be made.
02:05So, these IT modules and primarily most of the work now of the ECI
02:09happens digitally, happens via, of course, online.
02:12What does it mean it will go to a committee?
02:15What committee is this?
02:16And why was this precisely the issue with the election commission
02:19and the confrontation?
02:21Well, you know, Pooja, the reason why this actually became a big thing
02:25in the ECI and between the CEC and both the ECs
02:29were because they thought that they got to know the changes
02:32that were being made through news reports.
02:34They were not being told about it.
02:37The ECI, however, maintains that these were just administrative changes
02:41that were being made.
02:42The ECs, however, both of them believe that even if administrative changes
02:45were being done, even if they were for a short span of time,
02:48both of them should know about it.
02:50The IT department, if there are any kind of changes that they are doing,
02:53or even if the server is down, that is also something that has been looked at,
02:59has been discussed within the election commission of India,
03:01and they believe small things like the server being down,
03:04some of the EROs or the BLOs not being able to access data,
03:08that is something which should now be flasked off immediately,
03:10should be looked at immediately,
03:12and the kind of corrective measures that are being taken,
03:14that is something which will now go to a committee.
03:17The committee will, in fact, look at it,
03:18and once the committee approved any kind of changes,
03:22that will now come to the commission,
03:23which means it will come to the CEC and it will come to both the ECI.
03:26Does this in any way show that ECI was in the wrong,
03:28or is it a vindication of the critics of the ECI,
03:32or do you think this is a due process being followed?
03:35Well, due process being made more transparent,
03:38because that is something, Pooja,
03:39that both the election commissioners were being looking at,
03:42and they were also saying that if there are administrative changes
03:44that are being done,
03:45changes which have nothing to do with the voter list,
03:48that have nothing to do with the voter,
03:49even if those kind of changes are being done,
03:51in a place like ECI,
03:52they should be told about it,
03:54and they will be told about it, henceforth Pooja.
03:57All right, Ashwara,
03:58I appreciate you joining us with all the latest.
03:59So, that's the latest, ladies and gentlemen,
04:01coming from the Election Commission of India.
04:04A lot of work that happens digitally now.
04:07All of these IT modules are going through a transformation now.
04:10Also, officers working in the Election Commission
04:12will now need an approval for their foreign trips,
04:15even if official trips,
04:17according to our information,
04:18these approvals likely were not sought earlier.
04:20So, some changes that have been made,
04:22especially to ensure transparency within the ECI.
