In order to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process,
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
has decided to celebrate January 25 every year as "National Voters' Day". It has been started from 25 January 2011 to mark the foundation day of
Election Commission of India.
A meeting of the
Union Cabinet
The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...
, chaired by
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Manmohan Singh, approved a Law Ministry proposal to this effect,
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni
Ambika Soni (born 13 November 1942) is an Indian politician belonging to Indian National Congress. She had served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting. She was a Member of Parliament representing the state of Punjab in the Rajya Sabha.
...
told reporters. In this day rallies in government campus were going on.
By Observing the new voters, who have attained the age of 18 years, were showing less interest in getting enrolled in the electoral rolls, she said the level of their enrolment was as low as 20 to 25 per cent in certain cases.
"In order to effectively deal with this problem, the
Election Commission has decided to take up a vigorous exercise to identify all eligible voters attaining the age of 18 years as of January 1 every year in each of the 8.5 lakh polling stations across the country," she said.
Such eligible voters would be enrolled on time and handed over their Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) on January 25 every year,
Soni said, adding this initiative is expected to give the youth a sense of empowerment, pride and inspire them to exercise their franchise.
The new voters would be provided with a badge with its logo "Proud to be a voter - Ready to vote", she said. The theme of NVD 2016 is ‘Inclusive and qualitative participation’ reiterating the commitment towards reaching out to the last voter and promoting informed and ethical voting. The slogan 'No Voter to be left behind' has been coined to further emphasis the focus on inclusiveness. The National Awards are being conferred for excellence, proficiency and innovation in election processes and procedures. These awards recognize contribution by election machinery, government department/ agency/ PSU, CSO and media said. The greatest joy is seen in young voters of India.
On the fourth National Voters Day, a disability activist
Satendra Singh's RTI caught
Election Commission of India off-guard when they were found violating Supreme Court orders to enfranchise voters with disability.
References
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External links
The Times of IndiaThe Economic TimesThe HinduHappy Voters Day - Movie - A Stain in TimeHappy Voters Day - Movie - No Stain
Elections in India
January observances