The Tamil Nadu elections department has signed a memorandum of understanding with a couple of non-government organisations (NGOs) for the first time to propagate the messages of “maximum voter participation and ethical voting” among electors.
As of now, the NGOs roped in for the purpose are the Youth Exnora International and the Forum for Electoral Integrity, Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, told a press conference on Friday in Chennai.
During the 2011 Assembly elections, at an informal level, the department had coordinated some activities with the Forum for Electoral Integrity.
As part of the department’s campaign, the authorities had been organising a host of events including rallies, mini-marathons, “human chain,” street plays and floating of balloons. To cite an instance, a “human chain” event along the route of “Girivalam” (the path used by pilgrims to circumnavigate the Arunachaleeswarar temple and the nearby hills in Tiruvannamalai) had been planned.
Starting from the National Voters Day (January 25, 2014) until the Lok Sabha polls, the department would focus its campaign on the themes of maximum voter participation and ethical voting. Other government departments too had been requested to spread the messages. On Friday, they took a pledge. School and college students were also administered the pledge, the CEO said, adding that on Saturday, at those educational institutions, which would remain open, the students would take the pledge.
EPIC distribution
Mr. Kumar said the distribution of Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) to new voters would formally be launched on Saturday at a function to be held at the Raj Bhavan in connection with the fourth National Voter Day (NVD) celebration. Governor K. Rosaiah would give away the cards to some of the young electors. The NVD events would take place in all 27,946 places, accommodating 60,418 polling stations to distribute the cards.
Pointing out that about 27 lakh new electors had been enrolled, the CEO said the department had planned to arrange the delivery of the cards at the doorsteps of those electors who could not collect their cards on Saturday. The Booth Level Officers would ensure the distribution and they had been given a time frame of one month to complete the task. On March 1, the details of those who were not issues the cards would be hosted on the website of the Elections Department ( http://www.elections.tn.gov.in ).
