A centurion will give you a hundred different reasons why you must cast your ballot. In its bid to motivate people to come out and vote during the oncoming Delhi Assembly elections on December, 4, the District Election Officer (DEO) of South West Delhi on Friday honoured senior citizens over 100 years of age. A specially designed Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) has been launched in the whole of South West Delhi to motivate voters to come out of their respective homes and exercise their franchise. There are 10 such electors who are over 100 years old and are listed as voters in the electoral rolls of South West Delhi. All the 10 centurions who attended the function also exhorted the youth to come forward and vote to strengthen the democracy.
“Out of these 10 voters in the South West district, there are six women and four men. All those who were honoured for their contribution included Khajani Devi (103) of Chhawla village, Narayani Devi (106) of Mansa Ram Park, Om Pyari Devi (102) of Uttam Nagar and Ram Adarsh (100) of Matiala area”, said Nikhil Kumar, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and DEO of South West district.
Delhihas 154 voters aged 100 years or more, and over 68,000 voters aged between 80 and 100 years. The breakup of those over 100 years of age is quite interesting. Kamal, a resident of Govindpuri, is 118 years old, while Priyanka, who resides at JJ Colony, Bakkarwala, is 114. Ramesh Singh Negi, Dilip Singh, Prem Bahadur Balvinder Kumar Goura, Sunita, Vijender and Vinod Kumar are also 114 years old. Kamar Jahn, Prem Chand, Santosh, Phooleshwer, Rakesh, Jemol Anna Thomas Vada Kekra, Kavita, Kanta Sharma, Swarna Devi, Yogesh Kumar, Santosh, Mohd and Afroz Alam are 113 years old and are enrolled in the city’s voter list.
When asked about the spirit behind launching SVEEP, Nikhil Kumar said this initiative is aimed at attracting people and young voters to come out and caste their votes on polling day. Kumar also said that they have organised a candle march to enlist the support of voters and a special drive has been launched to attract women voters to exercise their suffrage.