National Voters Day celebrated in Bidar today

C. Renuka Prasad, vice chancellor, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, inaugurated National Voters’ Day in Bidar on Sunday.

He called upon the youth to realise that a functioning electoral democracy was among the most important achievements of modern India.

It is the responsibility of each of us to protect and preserve it by active participation, he said. He observed that the most benevolent democracies in the world today were countries with high levels of people’s participation. Dr. Prasad gave away EPIC cards to newly enrolled voters.

“We should all remember the maxim that we have no right to complain about governance, if we don’t participate in the electoral process,” P.C. Jaffer, Deputy Commissioner, said. He administered the oath of active participation and free and fair polls to school and college students. He pointed out that due to the Election Commission’s efforts of creating awareness about voters, had succeeded to a considerable extent.

We conducted a targeted campaign in booths that had the least percentage of polling in the last elections. We have observed that booths with polling as low as 10-15 per cent increased to 40-50 per cent as a result of the campaign, he said.

Student’s speak out

There were many speakers at the National Voters’ Day in Bidar on Sunday. But the loudest claps went to two teenagers, who spoke about the charms of electoral democracy.

Prashant Siddappa, a PUC student from Satya Niketan College in Bhalki, gave examples of how people’s opinions had changed the course of a nation’s history after the voters expressed their choice in the elections. Sardar Patel won his first municipal election with one vote. John Kennedy won a very crucial election with just one vote.

“Therefore, never stay home on polling day, thinking what will my one vote do?”, he said.

Gouripriya K. of the district government Adarsha School in Bidar felt that the right to vote was the first step towards empowerment of any community. Whether be it, the deprived communities, minorities, the poor or women, electoral rights are the most important tools of empowerment, she said.

Prashant and Gouripriya were selected after they won the district level elocution competition organised by the Election Commission as part of National Voters’ Day celebrations.