The Election Commission of India - has asked officials in other states to study the communication plan and vulnerability mapping exercise drawn up by the Madhya Pradesh electoral authorities for the assembly poll and replicate it in their states during the upcoming general elections.

Besides the methodology adopted by Madhya Pradesh's chief electoral officer (CEO)- in the vulnerability mapping exercise and identification of sensitive booths, the ECI has also asked all the other CEOs to implement the communication plan used on polling day in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections in the Lok Sabha polls next year.

The decision was taken after a presentation of the communication plan was made by the J.S. Mathur, CEO, Madhya Pradesh at the two-day conference of CEOs of all states in Delhi last week.

Under the communication plan, polling booths were equipped with cell phones, landline phones and wireless sets - to enable them to get in touch with senior officials command in case the scheduled polling process was hampered.

The ECI personally verified the utility of the plan on polling day by randomly calling presiding officers at 15 polling booths to ensure that everything was going on smoothly.

Besides the communication plan, the group SMS systems and group mailing systems also helped connect all the district collectors with the CEO's office. This helped in official decisions being conveyed immediately and reminders were sent through text messages.

The ECI has also asked all CEOs to follow Madhya Pradesh's techniques in the vulnerability mapping and identification of sensitive booths in the general elections.

Software developed by the National Informatics Centre - helped the booth level officers, zonal officer, sector magistrate, returning officer and district returning officer to remain in constant touch with the CEO's office.

"We were able to monitor incidents on polling day as they were reported in time," said Mathur. "It helped in taking action on complaints of malpractice during elections leading to a reduction in overall number of such incidents."