Chief Electoral
Officer (CEO)- As per section 13A of the
Representation of the People Act 1950, read with section 20 of the
Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Chief Electoral Officer of
a State/ Union Territory is authorised to supervise the election work
in the State/Union Territory subject to the overall superintendence,
direction and control of the Election Commission. The District Election
Officer (DEO) -As per section 13AA of the Representation of the People
Act 1950,
subject to the superintendence, direction and control of the Chief
Electoral Officer, the District Election Officer supervises the
election work of a district. Returning Officer (RO) -The Returning
Officer of a parliamentary or assembly constituency is
responsible for the conduct of elections in the parliamentary or
assembly constituency concerned as per section 21 of the Representation
of the People Act 1951. Electoral Registration Officer (ERO)-The
Electoral Registration officer is responsible for the preparation
of electoral rolls for a parliamentary / assembly constituency.
Presiding Officer -The Presiding Officer with the assistance of polling
officers conducts
the poll at a polling station. Observer -Under section 20B of the
Representationof the People Act 1951, the
Election Commission of India nominates officers of Government as
Observers (General Observers and Election Expenditure Observers) for
parliamentary and assembly constituencies. They perform such functions
as are entrusted to them by the Commission. Earlier, the appointment of
Observers was made under the plenary powers of the Commission. But with
the amendments made to the Representation of the People Act, 1951 in
1996, these are now statutory appointments. They report directly to the
Commission.