State Election Commissioner C. Parthasarathi has asked the youth to utilise their right of franchise by casting their vote in every election since it is a right provided by the Constitution.
Speaking at a meeting organised here on Monday on the occasion of National Voters Day observed on January 25 every year since 2011, the SEC said the significance of vote in a democracy is huge and there is every need to create awareness on its importance among voters, particularly the youth.
Mr. Parthasarathi administered a pledge with the Commission’s employees that they would utilise their right to vote without any fear or favour in every election with faith in democracy and would work to uphold the election process a free and fair exercise and would not get influenced by religion, race, caste, community or language.
The SEC thanked every one who made free and fair elections possible to gram panchayats, mandal parishads, zilla parishads, municipalities and municipal corporations during the last couple of years. To encourage the stakeholders ensure the election process in a democratic manner, the Commission would honour those helped hold the elections from village to State-level in a free and fair manner.
The Commission had already honoured those who helped hold panchayat raj, rural local bodies, elections in a free and fair manner last year and those who upheld the democratic norms in the urban local bodies’ elections would be honoured in April this year.
The theme of this year’s National Voters Day is “making our voters empowered, vigilant, safe and informed.” Secretary of the Commission Ashok Kumar and other officials participated in the event.
