E-Paper
Ludhiana bags 2nd position in state for voter awareness events
District election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Sakshi Sawhney said every district had to mandatorily submit a fortnightly report about SVEEP activities to the election officer
In the wake of intensive efforts by Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme teams to sensitise the voters ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Ludhiana secured the second position in the state, according to release of chief election officer on Saturday. The award has been given for voter awareness activities conducted by the administration.
According to the results declared by Punjab chief election officer, the Amritsar bagged the first spot, followed by Ludhiana on the second and Patiala in the third place for their SVEEP programme activities from April 1 to 15. Hoshiarpur and Malerkotla districts got special mention for their unique initiatives.
District election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Sakshi Sawhney said every district had to mandatorily submit a fortnightly report about SVEEP activities to the election officer. She said maximum efforts were made to apprise the people on how to enrol as voters and exercise their right to franchise. The democracy could only be successful if its stakeholders, especially the youth, participate in the poll process with zeal and enthusiasm, she added.
Additional deputy commissioner and SVEEP nodal officer Major (retd) Amit Sareen said special camps were organised at the youth festival hosted by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) for awareness and enrolment of people in the electoral roll from April 1 to 3. A blood donation camp was organised on April 12 at district level in senior citizen homes where the students performed nukkad natak, songs, quiz and folk dance to motivate them to cast their votes on June 1.
Sareen added that special camps were held with help of NGOs at a shopping mall for voter awareness on April 14. Besides, 540 electoral literacy clubs have been established in the high and senior secondary schools. At least 2,919 booth-level awareness groups have been established in all polling stations of the district to encourage the youth, person with disabilities (PwD) voters, senior citizens and women, to cast their votes to achieve the target of 70% voter turnout.
Polling for all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held in the last phase of general elections on June 1.
