With the elections for Lok Sabha and the State Assembly due in 2019, the Election Commission of India on Wednesday launched Voter Awareness Forum (VAF) at Project Bhawan here on Wednesday with the aim to ensure enthusiastic participation of employees of government, non-government and the corporate organizations in the election process.
Speaking as the Chief Guest on the occasion Chief Secretary SK Tripathi said VAF is being formed in every government and semi-government departments and the PSUs with their head being designated as the chairman. Subsequently, the chair would appoint a nodal officer for carrying out discussions and awareness activities regarding elections within their respective department.
The CS said, “Its basic aim is to ensure maximum participation of government employees both as a voter and as polling staffs in the election process”. He opined that in past it was found that many government employees checked their names in the voter list at the last moment only to find that they were not registered in their present place of posting. He said such problem mainly arose due to transfer of government staff from one place to another. The VAF would ensure that each employee is registered as voter in their locality, he said.
The CS stated that it is also important that after registering as voter at one place the employees get their names deleted from voter list of previous place of residence. Being registered as voter at two places is an offense, he added.
“The government wants to ensure that employees are not prevented from voting due to technical hitch. The soul of election is informed participation of voter and the VAF is formed to achieve the aim,” the CS observed.
Tripathi said VAF would also play a role in organizing oath taking ceremony on the National Voters Day on January 25. He said each employee should pledge for ethical voting and present themselves as a model voter.
It may be stated here that Election Commission of India has also launched other schemes for educating the voters.
Chief Electoral Officer, Jharkhand L Khinagte informed that Election Literacy Clubs are being set up in educational institutions to create awareness among future voters. He added that interactive school engagement programme has been organised in 3000 schools in this regard. In addition, election pathashala are being established for people outside the election process.