Power in the hands of youth: CS
Along with rest of the country, the 11th National Voters’ Day was observed in Nagaland too on Monday. On the occasion, the State election department organised several programmes in all district headquarters, sub-divisions and polling stations.
Speaking at a programme held at Capital Convention Centre here on the theme “Making Our Voters Empowered Vigilant, Safe and Informed”, chief secretary J Alam called upon all to remember the countless number of people who are silently working behind the scenes to facilitate the process of registering everyone and making them eligible to vote in elections, besides contributing to conduct free and fair elections.
He remarked that conducting elections was a mammoth exercise and a lot of issues were involved. And since the voting was the basis of what kind of government was elected, he said it was very important to continuously educate voters to be fully informed about the promises and policies the political parties and candidates make before the elections.
Alam further asserted that the very fact of making 18 years as eligible to vote indicated that there was more power in the hands of the youth. He, however, reminded that with the power comes with responsibility. Therefore, he encouraged the youth take active part in the democratic process.
Alam claimed that the e-EPIC system, which was launched on the occasion, was completely hassle-free and a portable document that could be downloaded on mobile or on a self-printable form on the computer.
Handing over awards to the best booth level officer and best campus ambassadors at the State and district levels on the occasion, he acknowledged their sincerity and dedication in conducting the entire electoral exercise smoothly. He also congratulated the newly-registered voters.
Earlier, before administering the National Voters’ Day pledge at the programme, the chief secretary also released a book called “A Glimpse of Systematic Voters Education & Electoral Participation (SVEEP) Activities in Nagaland”.
Speaking about the background of National Voters’ Day, chief electoral officer (CEO) Abhijit Sinha in his speech said in order to effectively deal with the problems faced by voters, Election Commission (EC) decided to take up a vigorous exercise to identify all eligible voters attaining the age of 18 years as on January 1 every year in each of the 8.5 lakh polling stations across the country.
Such eligible voters were enrolled on time and handed over their electoral photo identity cards (EPIC) on January 25 every year, he added.
The CEO said the initiative was expected to give the youth a sense of empowerment, pride and inspire them. He appealed to all eligible citizens to exercise their right without fear, intimidation and inducement.
Sinha also requested everyone to be always vigilant against any kind of electoral malpractices, be fully literate about the electoral processes so as to be able to make informed decisions during the elections and further follow all current health safety protocols to ensure safe elections.
EC rolls out digital voter I-cards
PTI adds: The Election Commission on Monday rolled out the electronic version of the voters’ photo identity card which can be stored on mobile phones and downloaded on personal computers.
The e-voter card, available in the PDF format which cannot be edited, can be self-printed and laminated by the voter when required.
With its formal launch on Monday, electors in poll-bound West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry can use e-voter card on polling days. Elections are due in these states and the union territory in April-May.
The conventional ‘PV’ physical voter card would continue to be in use.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launched the e-EPIC programme and distributed e-EPICs and Elector Photo Identity Cards to five new voters here to mark the National Voters’ Day.