Elaborate arrangements made to observe National Voters Day on January 25

District administration issues guidelines to be followed

Elaborate arrangements are being made to observe National Voters Day on January 25 at all the designated polling booths in the district, according to a press release issued by Collector R. Ananthakumar here on Wednesday.

Inaugurating a four-day training programme for the booth-level officers (BLOs) in in Dharmapuri on Tuesday, the Collector said that a 13-point guidelines have been issued to be followed during the observance of the Day. A training programme for one more batch was inaugurated by the Collector at Pennagaram.

According to the guideline, the celebrations should be arranged by the village administrative officer/booth-level officer. The function could be presided over by the Headmaster/Headmistress of the nearest school.

All the procedures should be followed as per the instructions of the Election Commission of India. The local panchayat president, ward members and political party leaders could participate. But at the same time, they should not share the platform and speak politics during the celebrations.

They should be treated as one among the spectators. Nobody should speak about a political party or a political leader. A senior voter can be invited and honoured at the function. Officials could explain about the eligibility of the voters to register and way of producing the voters' list.

Official can speak about the voters' role in the democracy and their duty.

All those who participate at the voters day function should take a pledge. New voters should be given badge and voters ID card with their photo. It was on January 25 that the Election Commission of India was formed, and hence, it had been announced by the ECI to celebrate the formation day as National Voters Day every year by ensuring participation of voters.