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.