Did you about “National Voters Day”?. This post is also part of our effort to provide and promote such events among the Indian citizens which is initiated by the Election Commission of India and Union Government who decided to celebrate this day across the nation.

National Voters Day:

India is home to more than 120 million people and is considered to be as one of the largest democratic nation in the world. In fact it can be said that, India undoubtedly is the largest democracy in the world. But being the largest democracy, one simply cannot simply prove it to be the most successful democracy in the world.

It can be said that we have a well settled institutions that govern the whole process that need to be done in a democratic nation. Our Constitution also provides us with the basic rights such as right to freedom, right to speak, right to vote, etc. The Ultimate power lies in the hands of people who actively participate in the process of Election to elect their Member of Parliament and Prime Minister of India (or, Chief Minister in case of Assembly Elections). We can thus conclude that our democratic wagon is moving smoothly.

However, our constitution does not overlook everything and so it is necessary to take some important steps from our side to make our democracy more successful, vibrant and strong. It is therefore our duty to spread as much awareness as possible so as to help make our citizens of India more responsible, disciplined besides encouraging them to actively participate in the democratic process which is the essence of democracy.

With the intention of spreading the awareness among our people and to move our wheel of democracy in the right direction, our Government headed by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a meeting, has decided to celebrate 25^th January as ‘National Voters Day‘ (राष्ट्रीय मतदाता दिवस) annually.

National Voters Day initiated back in 25^th January 2011. This particular day is selected to mark the foundation Day of Election Commission of India in the year 1950.

It has been observed that new voters, who recently attained the age of 18, were less concerned in getting themselves enrolled in the electoral rolls. With the motto to tackle this problem effectively, the Election Commission of India has come up with a strategy to identify all eligible voters attaining the age of 18 years as on 1^st January every year in each of the 8.5 lakh polling stations across the country and organize some functions and competitions to motivate the voters.

The Government of India and Election Commission of India has taken the right step of declaring 25, January as the National Voters Day and henceforth the said day will be observed as National Voters Day every year throughout India. Of course it was the day on which the Election Commission of India was actually born. Naturally 25, January has been rightly chosen as the National Voters Day.

National Voters Day is a single day event which is being celebrated across the nation in order to increase awareness and enrollment of new voters who just attained or attaining the age of 18, whose ignorance and apathy otherwise to get involved and participate in this universal  democratic process has been the main concern of the Election Commission of India. Therefore, on this Day, it is the duty of every Indian Citizen to not only spread the awareness about the democratic process of election in India but also to enlist more young minds of our nation whose every vote count for the change and welfare in our country.

This can only be achieved by organizing functions, ceremonies and competitions. Hence, the Election Commission of India has issued directions dated 10^th December 2014, to CEO’s of all States and UT’s to organize rallies to spread the awareness on the National Voters Day, besides issuing instant voter ID cards to the eligible voters in the age group of 18 and calling upon them to exercise their right to vote without fail during the elections.

As per the directives issued by ECI to all States and UT’s, it is stated that: The NVD celebrations in the State/UT, as in the previous years, must include these components in addition to any other component that the CEO and DEO may like to add of their own choice-

Basic Activities:

• The BLO’s in each polling stations shall felicitate the newly registered voters on this day in a brief ceremony/public function. As prescribed by the commission, a badge with its logo with a slogan “Proud to be a voter- ready to Vote” shall also be provided by BLO’s to the new electors during the ceremony along with their EPIC.
• The CEO of the State/UT concerned would organize events in the state capital in association with Media, Civil Society, Opinion Groups, Youth Volunteer Groups, State Administration, State election Commission and corporates, etc.

Concurrent Activities:

• Special camps may be held with prior publicity to allow electorals to surrender duplicate registrations by filling Form 7.
• Separate boxes may be kept at public places to facilitate electorals to deposit Form 6, Form 7 or, Form 8.
• Citizens may be encouraged to fill part 4 while filling form 6, to give details of their past registrations through proper dissemination of information in this regard.

Enhancement of Youth Participation

• “Young Voters Festival” through competitions in al Higher secondary Schools and Higher Educational Institutions. Attractive prizes may be given to the winners of the competition at District and state Levels.

Enhancement of Women’s Participation

• For maximization of women registration, women-specific SVEEP campaign may be developed by CEO’s.

Environment Building:

• Engagement of various forms of media-print, audio-visual, outdoor advertisement, troupes etc. for environment building.
• FM and other radio services can be best utilized for awareness.

The Election Commission (EC) celebrated the fifth National Voters Day, on 25^th January 2015 with the theme ‘Easy Registration, Easy Correction’. The theme for fourth NVD was ‘Ethical Voting’.

Current Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi on this occasion greeted the fellow Indian citizens and ECI for their wonderful job. He also urges all voters across India to make full use of this year’s theme of ‘Easy Registration, Easy Correction’. Former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam also presided over the occasion, which was held in the national capital. Awards for best electoral practices was also handed to Chief Electoral Officers and District Election Officers.

Media houses and civil society organisations were also honored for their campaigns on Voters’ Education and Awareness.