New Delhi, July 10
In order to encourage voter’s participation, the Election Commission of India (ECI) today held a review meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer along with the District Election Officers, government departments, civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the media partners.

The District Elections officers of nine districts highlighted the gaps identified in voter registration, particularly of women and the youth and the reasons for low turnout in the last assembly elections in Delhi.

The national programme called ‘Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) was discussed in the meeting which is an election management operation aimed at increasing the enrolment of eligible citizens in the electoral list.

“SVEEP envisages an active engagement of various agencies which could use their expertise and organizational setup in reaching out to the electors,” said Director General, Election Commission of India, Akshay Rout.

Rout underlined the need to have a credible and competent organization to join the movement. The departments such as Social Welfare, Education, Women and Child Development are already associated with the electoral process of registration.

“Civil Society Organizations and media houses are welcomed to join the movement for voter education in a non-partisan and apolitical manner. The support of partner departments was also solicited to fill in the gender gaps in the voter registration and transform the same into enhanced voting turnout,” said Rout

To rope in the cooperation of other stakeholders, SVEEP committees will be constituted at district levels under the chairmanship of the District Election Officer.

New Delhi, July 10
Six policemen, including the station house officer of a police station, were suspended today on the grounds of illegally detaining five juveniles and an adult in two cases of theft and burglary.

The police officials have been identified as Inspector Sunil Kumar, the then SHO of the Vijay Vihar police station in the outer district, the investigating officer (IO) of the two cases, head constable (HC) Lal Singh and constables Rahul, Rajkumar, Subhash and Akhilesh. Inspector Kumar had been the SHO of the Neb Sarai police station in the south district till this morning. The other five police officials are posted at the Vijay Vihar police station.

“In the follow-up action, the then SHO of Vijay Vihar, IO of the cases and the four constables have been placed under suspension and they will be dealt with departmentally. A detailed enquiry into the matter has been ordered. A criminal case has also been registered in this regard. Further investigation will be conducted by the District Investigation Unit of the Outer District,” said the Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range), Virendra Singh.

The matter came to light when a television news channel on July 9 aired a programme on the illegal detention of the five juveniles and the adult allegedly by the police officials.

New Delhi, July 10
A 35-year-old man’s body with his head crushed was found near his house in southwest Delhi’s Najafgarh area on Wednesday morning.

The man has been identified as Sanjay Kumar by his wife, Anju. He reportedly had a disabled right hand and worked as a labourer, according to the police. He lived with his wife and two children at Indira Park D-Block in Najafgarh. The police suspect that he was killed over personal enmity.

According to the police, they received a call at 7.30 am about a body lying in an empty plot at Indira Park D-Block.

“Anju rushed to the plot when she noticed a large crowd there. She identified her husband by the clothes he was wearing,” said a police officer.

The officer added that a blood-stained brick was lying near Sanjay’s body. Investigators suspect that his head was crushed with it. His body was taken to the Rao Tula Ram Memorial Hospital in Jaffarpur Kalan for a postmortem.

Anju informed the police that Sanjay had left home at about 7.30 pm on Tuesday and didn’t return.

“He worked as a labourer at the construction site of a flyover located near the Najafgarh-Chhawla bus stand,” the officer said.