Ludhiana district excels in voter awareness, literacy in Punjab, bags 2nd spot in SVEEP

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, April 29

In what appears to be the outcome of the sustained campaign underway since March 16, Ludhiana district has excelled in voter education, awareness and promotion of voter literacy in the state.

The district has bagged the second position in the Systematic Voter’s Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP), which is the flagship programme of the Election Commission of India (ECI) for voter education, spreading voter awareness and promoting voter literacy in the country.

Success report

• Voter outreach
• Electoral Literacy Clubs
• Booth-level Awareness Groups
• Category-wise activities

Result of team work

It’s the result of the team work that our SVEEP initiatives have turned out to be the second best in the state. The sustained campaign for voter education, spreading voter awareness and promoting voter literacy will continue to achieve voter turnout of over 70 per cent. Sakshi Sawhney, DC-cum-DEO.

The awards were announced by the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) on the basis of the assessment of SVEEP activities and social media index undertaken by all 23 districts in the state between April 1 and 15.

While Amritsar has bagged the first position, Patiala has stood third in the state.

Besides, Hoshiarpur and Malerkotla have got special mention for their unique initiatives. While Hoshiarpur was recognised for creating voter awareness at bus stands/ railway stations by playing ‘dafli’ by its SVEEP nodal officer, Malerkotla was lauded for carrying out SVEEP activities during the district-level Eid celebrations.

Deputy Commissioner (DC)-cum-District Electoral Officer (DEO) Sakshi Sawhney, who has been leading the special drive to aware, educate and sensitise the electorates in state’s biggest and largest district, in terms of area and population, which is spread across 14 Assembly segments falling under two Parliamentary constituencies, told The Tribune, here on Monday that the district SVEEP team had been planning and undertaking a host of activities across various geographies of Ludhiana.

“With multiple (general and targeted) and multi-dimensional nature of such activities, the SVEEP team with the help of departments concerned and field-level functionaries, sector officers and booth level officers, was able to reach out to the last mile voters residing in various geographies of the district,” she said.

Lauding the efforts of the outgoing Assistant Commissioner (under training), Krishna Pal Rajput, who had done the groundwork, Sakshi said besides other host of activities and programmes, the SVEEP initiatives specially covered young voters and areas where there was less than 40 per cent voter turnout during the previous elections through widespread street plays (nukkad nataks) and citizen engagements through quiz and other allied activities in parks, malls and other public places with high footfall.

“As a result of our sustained campaign, which is still underway, the number of first time/ new voter registration has swelled exponentially during the past two months,” the DC-cum-DEO revealed while divulging that 43,876 Form 6 (application for new voter registration) had already been approved and updated in e-rolls besides 5,921 more new voter registration forms were in the pipeline of approval and updation ever since the final publication of electoral rolls was made this year.

Divulging the activities undertaken in this regard, the ADC (General), Amit Sareen, who is the SVEEP nodal officer for Ludhiana, said ever since the enforcement of the model code of conduct (MCC) following the announcement of the General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha by the ECI on March 16, the district-level SVEEP committee was conducting planning and review meetings at regular intervals to monitor the progress and evaluate the SVEEP activities on the ground.

He said the host of SVEEP activities included voter outreach through outdoor hoardings, wall paintings, public announcements, video/ audio messages by the DC-cum-DEO, and the pledge by voters to exercise their franchise during the poll.

Among the unique initiatives, special voter awareness, education and enrolment camps were held across higher education institutions and universities, on the occasion of annual fests/ celebrations and other functions, posters were displayed at all banks and post offices and one of the SVEEP field officials, Balwant Singh, has recorded a song to spread awareness among the voters to exercise their franchise.

Sareen said 540 electoral literacy clubs were constituted at all high/ senior secondary schools and colleges in the district, which conduct daily lectures in their respective institutions to encourage voters to cast their vote and also sensitise their elders to the importance of their vote.

Besides, 2,919 booth-level awareness groups (BAGs) were established at all polling stations across the district to encourage the young, specially-abled, aged and women voters to cast their votes and make the dream of above 70 per cent voter turnout become a reality.

Under the category-wise activities, all young voters were motivated to cast their votes through various competitions and signature campaigns, senior citizens were informed that they would be provided pick and drop facility, wheelchairs and volunteer support facilities at their polling booths and the aged voters were also supplied Form 12-D to facilitate them to cast their vote through ballot, in case they were unable to do so at their polling booth.

To ensure maximum participation of service voters, the electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETPBS) will be transmitted through electronic means to them. It will enable them to cast their vote on an electronically received postal ballot from their preferred location, which is outside their originally assigned constituency. “This system provides an easier option of facilitating voting by the electors as the time constraint for dispatch of the postal ballot has been addressed using the system,” the ADC (General) said, adding that similar activities were also planned and undertaken to cover women, and specially-abled electorates as well.

“It is the result of the team work that our SVEEP initiatives have turned out to be the second best in the state. It is our endeavour to educate and sensitise the electorates in every nook and corner of the district to get them registered and ensure their maximum participation. The sustained campaign for voter education, spreading voter awareness and promoting voter literacy will continue to achieve voter turnout of over 70 per cent,” said Sakshi Sawhney, DC-cum-DEO.

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