Below 60% voting: Special drive to be held in 78 Kangra polling centres
Dharamsala, April 2
District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Hemraj Bairwa today said that in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, a special voter awareness campaign would be started in 78 polling centres in Kangra district where the voting percentage was less than 60 per cent in the 2019 parliamentary elections. He virtually presided over a meeting of the SVEEP campaign.
He said that instructions had been given to Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) to visit polling stations and take appropriate steps to increase the voting percentage. He added, “In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 78 polling stations in Kangra district had recorded less than 60 per cent voting, including the highest 30 such centres in Jaisinghpur, 16 in Baijnath, three in Nurpur, six in Dehra, five in Jaswan Pragpur, one in Jwalamukhi and two such polling stations each in Sullah and Nagrota. Less than 60 per cent voting was also recorded in three polling stations in Shahpur, six in Dharamsala and four polling stations in Palampur.”
Bairwa said that a special awareness campaign would be started in six polling stations with less than 72 per cent voting. Under the campaign, better facilities would be provided in the polling centres, as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, he added. The Assistant Election Officers would visit these polling centres and make the voters aware of polling so that the voting percentage could be improved.
He said that under the SVEEP programme in the district, special focus would be laid on making voters aware through various new and traditional activities. “The district administration is trying to ensure that on the voting day on June 1, all voters in the district come out of their homes and exercise their right to franchise,” he added.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Saurabh Jassal gave detailed information about the SVEEP campaign for Kangra district. He said that under the campaign, awareness campaigns would be started at various levels in the district. “Guidelines have been given to Assistant Election Officers so that voters can be made aware of the importance of voting,” he added.
Jassal said that speech, rangoli and general knowledge competitions regarding the elections were also being planeed in educational institutions. “The district administration will motivate people to vote by handing them invitation letters for voting and by putting a stamp on their wrists, requesting their participation in the elections. Besides, every voter will be encouraged to actively participate in the voting process by providing selfie points and signing on the voter signature wall,” he added.
All Sub-Divisional Officers, Tehsildar (Election) Sanjay Rathore and Naib Tehsildar (Election) Sanjay Kapoor were also present on the occasion.
