In a bid to encourage electoral participation among the Government employees and people in general, the Election Commission, has made it mandatory to publish slogans and appeals in all the Government advertisements. Even the blank letterheads of Government departments will hold slogans printed at the top.
The decision to promote awareness among the voters in order to improve electoral participation in the Country was started during the parliamentary and Assembly elections in 2009 under the Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) Programme.
“To increase voting percentage in the forthcoming parliamentary and Assembly elections in the State, all round efforts are being made by the State Government to create awareness among the voters both inside and outside the Government. It aims at making people aware about their voting rights and responsibilities and to promote ethical voting without any external influence,” Chief Electoral Officer PK Jajoria said.
The programme is being successfully implemented in the state with the direction of Election Commission of India to increase overall voter’s turnout in the State. “It is an initiative by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to create awareness among the people as well as Government officials where slogans — with an appeal to actively take part in the voting — are being done in order to increase voter turnout during the elections,” added Jajoria.
According to Jajoria, it has been made mandatory for all the Government offices that all the letterheads and advertisements released by them should contain these slogans, passed earlier by the ECI under SVEEP programme.
“The increased voting turnout in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has been an encouragement for the ECI. Initiatives taken under SVEEP programmes and slogans on the Government letter heads and advertisements proved to have a great impact on the electorates in the recent Assembly elections in the neighbouring States as compared to the earlier polls where voter’s turnout was more than 70 per cent as compared to the earlier percentage of 40-50 per cent,” added Jajoria.
To ensure that every eligible person gets enrolled in the voters’ list, call centres have also been started in every district to address the complaints registered with it. Booth level Volunteers (BlV) — in the form of NGOs and private organisations — by the State administration has also been invited who want to help the Government in updating the electoral rolls of the State as well as spread awareness to vote.
According to the data available with the Chief Electoral Officer, over 200 to 300 people are being attended daily by these volunteers to look into their grievances regarding the electoral rolls.
The SVEEP wing formulates policies, lays down the framework and plans interventions and monitors its implementation besides carrying out continuous discourse with voting publics, civil society groups and media. It handles work related to all aspects of Voters’ Awareness & Education aimed towards improving Electoral Participation in the country and building up a culture of participative democracy among citizens. The SVEEP Wing commenced work in late 2009.
On the directives of the Election Commission of India, states have been directed to increase voters’ turnout through SVEEP activities. A special campaign is being also undertaken for women voters’ awareness through Anganwadi workers-assistance of Women and Child Development Department in the districts by enlisting the polling booths were difference was found in number of male and female voters in the last elections.