Presiding Officer
Topic: Elections and the Electoral System · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Presiding Officer is the official in charge of a single polling station on polling day. They run the poll, keep order and guide the polling officers who check names, apply ink and hand out slips. They deal with problems on the spot. One example is a tendered vote: if someone has already voted in a person's name, that person gets a paper ballot, which is kept aside as evidence. At the close of poll, the Presiding Officer seals the EVM and the poll records.
Example
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election there were about 10.5 lakh polling stations, and each had a Presiding Officer. At the end of the day, each one sealed the EVM so it could go safely for counting.
Don't confuse with
- Returning Officer: runs the election for a whole constituency and declares the result. The Presiding Officer runs only one polling station.
Related concepts
- Mohinder Singh Gill case
- Gujarat election reference
- Chief Electoral Officer
- District Election Officer
- Returning Officer
- Election observers