The Elections Department on Monday launched a comprehensive campaign LEVER (Looping in Everyone) to enrol left out eligible voters with special emphasis on target groups in the Union Territory.
Mobile registration vehicle flagged off
Inaugurating the campaign and flagging off the Mobile voters’ registration vehicle, Chief Electoral Officer V. Candavelou said that certain groups of voters were left out of the electoral process either voluntarily or involuntarily.
The main purpose of the LEVER campaign is to make the electoral roll and system highly inclusive and ensure that not a single eligible voter is left out.
The Election department has achieved 100 per cent Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) coverage in the UT and has initiated steps for 100 percent coverage of voters in the electoral roll.
The campaign will target enrolment of target groups such as transgenders, differently abled, excluded women groups, migrant labourers, uneducated rural youths and Non Resident Indian voters.
Mr. Candavelou said the Election department was planning to involve line departments of health, labour, National Informatics Centre, NSS, Nehru Yuva Kendra Service and nodal officers from all colleges in the UT for reaching out to the targeted sections.
The department had also created Students of Puducherry in Electoral Awareness Front Runners (SPEAR) group for intervention of student population.
The SPEAR group will act as Campus Ambassadors and gather data on elector profile of students in the colleges for Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme.
Muthamma, Chief Coordinator of SVEEP said that as per the 2011 census, the UT’s total population was 12.48 lakh while the number of voters according to the elector’s list stands at 9.13 lakh voters which is 72 per cent of the total population.
Similarly, out of 36,000 youths in the UT around 26,000 youth were included in the elector’s list.
The SVEEP campaign was launched to increase voter awareness and to motivate youth and women to exercise their franchise.
The department will be coordinating with NSS and NYKS volunteers for reaching out to youth and enrolment of non-student youth, she added. District Collectors D. Manikandan and E. Vallavan also participated.
