Members of the Kudumbasree Mission will use secret ballot for the first time this year to elect office-bearers at all the three levels of its administrative structure.
Use of secret ballot instead of open voting was expected to inspire more confidence in Kudumbasree members, said sources in the Mission.
Until now elections took place by way of members lifting their hands to support the candidate they voted for.
From now on, the election process would be well-defined and more transparent, sources said, pointing out that the election rules had been notified through a government order.
There are more than 3.5 lakh members of Kudumbasree Mission in Ernakulam district, spread over more than 25,000 neighbourhood groups; over 1,600 Area Development Societies and 101 Community Development Societies. Across Kerala, there are 2,50,000 NHGs; 20,000 ADSs and 1,072 CDSs.
The election process will take a month’s time for completion. The process will be kicked off on December 24 and will conclude on January 25 with elections to the office-bearers of the CDSs.
Elections to the NHGs will be held between January 8 and 14. Elections to the ADSs will be held between January 18 and 21. The new office-bearers will take charge on January 26.
Training for district-level officials for the Kudumbasree polls was held at the District Collectorate here on Wednesday, said a press release from the Public Relations Department. The training programme was inaugurated by Kudumbasree director P.R. Shreekumar.
There will be a returning officer and an assistant returning officer each for each of the CDSs.
Elections to the NHGs will be led by a member elected by the group, who will be given special training for holding the election.
A management information system had been worked out for the Kudumbasree elections, the press release added.
