New Initiative

- by Kushal Pathak, Director, ECI   Once election dates are announced, the ‘Model Code of Conduct’ becomes operative. In order to maintain level playing field and fairness of the election process, it is imperative that all stakeholders adhere to the principles enunciated in the MCC. However, MCC violations are a reality and so are the cases of lodging spurious complaints. In the above backdrop, ECI undertook the development of cVIGIL Mobile Application which allows vigilant citizens to give live reports on incidents of MCC violation within minutes of having witnessed them. They don’t have to rush to the office of the returning officer in their assembly constituency. In case of a registered complaint, a unique ID number is generated to allow the citizen to track her complaint status. Anonymous complaints do not get any identification numbers for tracking purpose. Citizens can download the application from Google Play Store. Citizens can use cVIGIL to only report MCC violation cases. For other complaints, they can use the facility available in the mobile app/website of ECI Citizen Services. The salient features of cVIGIL mobile application are: ● Location is automatically captured from the application ● Anonymous and Non –Anonymous logins allowed ● Photo cannot be clicked outside the mobile application ● 5 minutes to capture real photos/Audio and submit from Mobile application ● Allow only Live Photos and Videos to be submitted Once an incident of MCC violation is reported by cVIGIL, it is forwarded to a Flying Squad for investigation. The Flying Squad also utilizes a separate mobile App to track the complaints on GIS map and file investigation report.  The Beta Version application was rolled out to take feedback from Beta testers from four Poll Going States i.e. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan. The purpose of the beta trials from 01 Aug to 24 Sep 2018 was to acquaint citizens and election staff with the application features by allowing them to file complaints with dummy data, test scalability & performance of the cVIGIL Application and seek end-user feedback regarding App features and User Interface. During the beta trials, cVIGIL mobile application was installed on 29093 Android smartphones and 243268 dummy test complaints were filed during this short period by the nominated officials of the 4 states. Alongwith the beta trials, a ‘User Experience Survey’ was also conducted. Objective and Subjective questionnaire in our Survey for better understanding of user feedback and their responses were captured for analyzing the response. During beta trials a total of 884 feedbacks were received. Perusal of the feedback from beta testers indicates that: ● 96% users said that finding cVIGIL App from Google Play Store was easy. ● Close to 95% users liked the logo of the app ● 90% users took less than 2 minutes to download the app ● Close to 84% users found cVIGIL App to be fast. ● Close to 80% of the respondents found the location captured by the app to be very accurate or somewhat accurate ● 523 respondents out of 884 found the live photo/Video capturing feature of the app to be the most valuable.   https://youtu.be/Nya_QbPvjoI  

Election Commission of India, in its commitment towards Accessible Elections, organised Sign Language Training Session for officials of the Commission in collaboration with ISLRTC (Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre) on September 12, 2018 at ECI Headquarters in New Delhi.     The training was conducted by experts from ISLRTC (Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre) wherein the officers were acquainted with basic as well as election related sign languages symbols such as Election, Identity Card, Address and Polling Booth etc. Besides, information related to basic etiquette while conversing with persons with disabilities was also shared with the Officials of the Commission and they were sensitized regarding the needs of Deaf persons. The session saw enthusiastic participation of the officials. A sensitization activity was conducted through a live demonstration of a mock poll to understand the frequently asked questions/ issues of the deaf voters.     The aim of the workshop was to sensitize election officials to the needs of persons with disabilities so as to be better able to respond to their needs & facilitate them during the election process.   In July 2018, Election Commission of India organised a two day National Consultation on Accessible Elections in New Delhi where the Commission declared a series of facilitation measures for Persons with Disabilities, including training and sensitisation of Election Officials.        

Since its inception in 2009 Systematic Voters’ Education & Electoral Participation (SVEEP) division of Election Commission of India has taken numerous initiatives to educate and empower the citizens towards the electoral process. The importance of developing the practice of citizenship development for electoral participation is vital to investment in the future of democracy. As the saying goes by, youth is the future of democracy hence it is necessary to focus on the younger generation for civic education leading to robust electoral participation. Keeping this rationale in view and the motto ‘No Voter to Be Left Behind’, Election Commission of India (ECI) took a landmark step towards the cause of electoral literacy with its initiative - ‘Mainstreaming of Electoral Literacy through Educational Institutions, Organizations and Communities in India’, under its SVEEP Programme. The idea of setting up Electoral Literacy Club was an expedition in itself which came to life after a working group analyzed the civic studies course books from grades 6 to 10. It was found that while students are taught about democracy and functioning of the government, there is little content on the development of active electoral participation. Moreover, no information is available about something as basic as the registration/enrollment process for the voters. After the meeting, held on 13th Feb, 2017 the working group agreed upon the following: to chalk out the Content, Method, Tools of Electoral Literacy to study the Best Practices across the world ELC to reach out to those outside formal education system Neutral content to be developed with local flavour   Second Meeting of working group was held on 5th April, 2017 in ECI where in the working group recommended framing of Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs) with the following objectives: to prepare future and young voters of the country by educating them about the electoral process to provide hands-on experience and serve as a vibrant hub of Electoral Literacy the resources should include exciting group engagement activities with well defined learning tools ELCs should be an Interactive forum with least lecturing   Third Meeting was held in Indian Habitat Center (IHC) where NCERT text books and NIOS chapters on social science were studied to prepare the content and deliverables. This was followed by preparation of a conceptual Framework and Action plan, which after the approval of the Commission, was forwarded to CEOs of all State / UTs along with a Project document. In certain cases, it was shared up to the DEO level.          After comprehensive rounds of discussion with key stakeholders, learning outcomes and important messages were listed out. Guided by these, games and activities were developed for students of Class IX, X, XI, XII and for Chunav Pathshala members. This resource development phase continued for about six months and was followed by three rounds of field trials in schools and communities in Delhi and NCR. It was realized that the effectiveness of any activity depended on the persons convening the ELC, their language and communication skills, and their correct understanding of the messages. Hence, on December 19th and 20th 2017, ECI organized a two day workshop for a final review of tools prepared for the Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs). Forty participants that included Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), master trainers, representatives from civil society organizations, educators from schools and colleges as well as development communicators from different corners of the nation were invited to further refine the learning tools, check their viability and deliberate on an effective roll-out plan to set up the ELCs. Around 30 learning tools were reviewed by the participants in the workshop.                     Post the final review, a total of seven comprehensive resource guides were created and designed for the ELC project. The Resource Guides are for the benefit of club conveners and carries step by step information on how to conduct the various activities. These are: guides for classes IX – XII, Colleges, Rural Communities and a common handbook. To make it more interesting and engaging, 6 games and 2 story scrolls were also developed in association with Lady Irwin College, as tools for the purpose of engaging with communities via Chunav Pathshalas. Under the project the following target audience is covered:– ELC for Schools – Targeting around 7 crore students as per HRD stats in the age group of Class IX-XII in around 2 lakh senior secondary schools ELC for Colleges – Targeting new and young voters in the age group 18 - 25 years in about 800 Universities, 39,071 colleges as per HRD stats ELC for Communities (Chunav Pathshalas) – Targeting 1 million Polling Stations with a focus on 14-17 year olds outside of the formal education system; will include members of all ages Voter Awareness forums (VAF) – will be set up in Government and Non-Government Organizations as well as in private institutions   A major component of the project in its execution phase was the training of the ELC conveners. Considering the sheer magnitude of the numbers the project is dealing with, a system of cascade training was finalized, wherein, ECI would train State Level Master Trainers (SLMTs), who will in turn train District Level Master Trainers (DLMTs), who subsequently train Master Trainers and on-ground Conveners. Workshops were conducted for State Level Master Trainers (SLMTs) from the 36 states and Union Territories (UTs) of the country in four batches of 40-50 participants each, in February- March 2018.                  A final leg of trainings was conducted on 23rd and 24th of May 2018, with participants from CSOs from across the nation. The was felt that CSOs can play a major role in taking forward the initiative of imparting electoral literacy through games and activities within their respective organizations as well as the communities they work with. Presently, training of conveners on the ground level is taking place in all States and UTs. As an aid to these trainings, SVEEP has developed a documentary which is essentially a collection of activities under the programme. It is also available as tutorials on SVEEP portal. No project is complete without the evaluation, hence National Law University, Delhi has been enrolled for the evaluation and impact assessment of the project. Teams of NLU have visited ELCs different states in different phases, of ELC, with the 1 st phase starting between September - October, 2018. Through these stepping stones, Election Commission of India embarks on a ceaseless journey of strengthening democracy via these young and future voters of the country.

A majority of educators will agree that students grasp the most when learning meets fun. The ELC learning tools have been developed in a manner such that important information, which might seem banal in textbooks, is imparted in engaging ways to young students. The following are a description of six activities out of a total of 30 that have been developed for the ELCs:   1. Nirvachitra   A portmanteau of the words Nirvachan and Chalchitra, Nirvachitra introduces the electoral process and procedures through an engaging film show or a picture story scroll developed by the ECI. Nirvachitra is the first activity proposed for all ELCs to set the tone of the club.   Set in the environment of Class XII students in a school from a rural area, the film Masti, Dosti aur Matdaan, covers the basics of voter registration by introducing concepts like democracy and value of a vote as well as talking about the age of eligibility, how to register as a voter, the documents required, etc., through  its animated characters. For schools where screening the film is not possible, story scrolls have been developed that send out the same message with their characters Abha and Abhay.       Before the film screening, the convener (teacher) shall have an introductory discussion with the students where their knowledge and views on democracy, voting, etc., are gauged. Post the film/scroll show, students are prompted to recall their first memories of an actual election held in their vicinity irrespective of their parents/guardians/relatives/neighbours' participation and make a poster either on the most important takeaway of the film or on the importance of elections and voting.   2. Card Game   Drawing inspiration from the popular card game UNO, two card games Vigilant Voter and Be the People’s Representative have been developed. Each deck consists of six cards in five colours along with some lucky and unlucky cards to make the game interesting. Each of the six numbered cards carry messages specific to the respective games. The player who arranges all the six cards in their correct order in a single chosen colour and reads out the messages stated on the cards correctly, wins the game.           The Vigilant Voter enables the players to play through the perspective of a voter. The six cards break down the entire registration and voting process, right from eligibility till poll day, into six key messages. The Be a People’s Representative game lets the players don the role of a contesting candidate and breaks down the candidate’s journey in an election to six messages in six cards. The idea of the card games is that while playing, the students absorb the messages communicated while still enjoying a good game.   3. Build your Ballot   An activity developed specifically for the students of class IX, Build your Ballot is aimed at familiarizing the students with EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) and VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). Through this activity students will make their own ballot paper with dummy candidates and symbols including NOTA.   The game requires 15 students as volunteering candidates of a hypothetical election. The aim is for the entire class to make their own ballot paper. For this purpose a chart paper is used to make the layout of a dummy ballot paper. Fifteen pre-decided symbols denoting state parties, national parties, registered parties and individual candidates are shuffled and randomly allotted one each to every student acting as a candidate.   Following this, the candidates come forward and alphabetically arrange their names on the ballot paper according to actual ECI guidelines. First, the students with state and national party symbols come forward to form category I and write their names alphabetically on the ballot, and stick/draw their symbols against their name. Category II is formed by registered party candidates. Last but not the least, individual candidates arrange their names on the ballot.   The idea behind building the ballot is for the voters to realize that candidates are arranged on the ballot in an unbiased manner according to set guidelines, and give an idea on where to find the name of the candidate of choice on the ballot.   4. Hopscotch – Matdaan ke Padav   Matdaan ke Padav or Steps to Vote, is a stapu (hopscotch) game designed to familiarize students with the steps of voting. The game is printed on a flex and laid on the ground for students to play. It consists of 10 steps with each step carrying a question.   The player has to hop and stand on one foot throughout the game and will lose if the other foot touches the ground. The player enters the game by standing at the start position and throws a coin inside the first rectangle which is the first step of the game. S/he then reads out the question written inside the rectangle loudly for all to hear and answers it in either “Yes” or “No”. Similarly, the player progresses by throwing the coin in the next rectangle and repeating the process until they reach the tenth and the last rectangle.     The game creates awareness amongst players by asking questions like “Should we check our names in the voters’ list before elections?”, “Before entering the polling station should we keep our identity proof and voters’ slip ready?”, “On the EVM, do we have to press a button in front of the name of a candidate we have chosen?”   5. NOTA   NOTA stands for None of the Above. If a voter does not wish to vote for any political representative, s/he can still exercise their franchise by voting for NOTA. The activity, for students of class X, introduces the concept of NOTA to the students in a humorous way and sends out the message that knowing what you do not want is as important as knowing what you want.   This activity uses colourful, visual flashcards. Each flashcard poses a question and offers four answers to the question. The first three options are deliberately funny, silly and incorrect. For example, if the question is, “Which one of the following is a means of transport?” The first three options to this question are a water bottle, a hen and a carpet. The fourth option to every question is NOTA. Thus students choose NOTA as the answer to every question, familiarizing them with the concept in the process.     However, post the flashcard display, the convener brings out one final round where the following question is verbally asked - “Who do you vote for?” The answers would include: A corrupt politician bribing people to vote in his/her favour. A lazy politician who is inefficient. A politician with criminal charges. None of the Above (NOTA).   The Convener then initiates a group discussion or debate in the class on the topic of NOTA.         The ELC Resource Guides developed individually for class IX, X, XI and XII detail the activities to be conducted with the respective classes in one academic year. Each activity includes an element of summary and recall at the end. Each grade will only spend about four hours on ELC activities in a year, and yet the long-term impact of the club activities will be significant in creating prepared, responsible and informed young voters of India. These aware and educated voters of tomorrow will also be the ones who will act as ambassadors of democracy who will share their knowledge, inform and educate their peers, their family and their community at large.

For the first time in its history, Kerala held a clean and green election in 2019. Early in March, the Kerala high court banned the use of flex and non-biodegradable materials during electioneering. The CEO of Kerala, Shri TR Meena IAS, issued an advisory immediately after asking all political parties to refrain from using single-use plastic materials in poll campaigning, and advising them to opt for eco-friendly options, prompting them to consider wall graffiti and paper posters as viable alternatives. The collaboration of Kerala Suchitwa Mission was sought for, accordingly by doing the handholding this joint venture was carried out successfully in the whole state.  Along with the district administration in the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram, the Haritha Keralam Mission and the Suchitwa Mission, two government bodies looking at waste management, took steps to ensure a green election. The primary focus was to prevent the use of plastic and choosing reusable alternatives like glass/stainless steel/porcelain cutlery. The CEO and the Commission made it clear that banners and hoardings made of plastic material should be avoided. Instead it can be replaced by banners and hoardings made using paper and cotton cloth. Candidates were advised to try and avoid the use of plastic drinking water bottles during their campaigning and to use only eco-friendly items such as cloth and paper materials to decorate their campaign vehicles. The candidates and party workers were requested to hire steel plates and glasses for meals while campaigning. Polling stations, counting centres, and other election offices had also been directed to avoid plastic material, including water bottles. And almost all districts created a green model polling booth as a norm to be followed, and it also was useful in spreading awareness amongst the public of the efforts taken at the commission’s level to ensure that we walked the talk. And in an attempt to lead from the front the CEO created a booklet explaining all the ways in which the green protocol can be adhered to and enforced in the state. Not just that, all activities conducted by the Commission at the state level and even at the district level were entirely “green” events and promoted the plastic free message. Special events were organized by the district election officials to promote the green message including cycle rallies, processions by students and green protocol volunteers in different districts, signature campaign on cloth banners, street play on green election, flash mobs, beach run, sand art, quizzes, celebrity endorsements and messages from district SVEEP icons to adhere to green protocol etc. all under the aegis of SVEEP activities in the state. Not just that students from the Election Literacy Clubs (ELCs) created handmade paper pens and paper bags which was used to distribute polling materials to officials on polling day in various locations especially in Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha. Similarly at many Collectorates in the districts the candidate were welcomed with green materials when they came to file their nominations. The public was also encouraged to come up and report any violations that was noticed anywhere in the state for immediate action from authorities. As part of the green protocol, more than 17 lakh flex boards, banners, posters and stickers have been removed after the model code of conduct came into force in Kerala and up until counting day in the state. Election officials were absolutely objective and impartial in their enforcement of the code throughout the state and this helped them in ensuring that any sort of defacement was immediately dealt with. And while all political parties and candidates welcomed the move and took steps to adhere to the green protocol as much as possible, it was not 100% complete in the state this time. But this is the first step in the right direction and soon this will become the norm across the state.

The Chief Election Commissioner of India Mr. O P Rawat, Election Commissioners Mr. Sunil Arora and Mr. Ashok Lavasa launched the special issue of the VoICE International(April-September 2018) magazine in Chief Electoral Officer’s Conference on October 4, 2018 at ECI Headquarters. The theme of the special issue (April – September 2018) of Volume II of the magazine is ‘Voter Education through Educational Institutions’. It primarily focuses on introducing greater electoral awareness and sensitivity among the future generation of voters and electoral participants; an issue that has great significance and relevance for investment in the future of Electoral Democracy. Apathy of the youth towards electoral participation and non-exercise of their franchise by a large proportion of them is a major concern in several democratic countries. In this respect, effective electoral literacy programmes through school and college level initiatives are an important means of encouraging participation of youth in the electoral process. Further, the outreach of electoral literacy initiatives can be increased manifold through the use of electronic, internet and social media. Most of the democracies across the world, conscious of the importance of such initiatives have taken significant steps towards introducing several initiatives toward their electoral literacy programmes using both formal and informal channels.  This issue highlights such initiatives across the world. Apart from contributions on the core theme, the magazine also features other articles by member Election Management Bodies(EMBs) on other important and pertinent subjects. The e-book of the magazine is available at http://voicenet.in/. All the prior issues (e-book/ pdf) of VoICE International are available at http://voicenet.in/voiceinternational.htm. VoICE International is the quarterly e-publication on the VoICE.NET (Voter Information, Communication and Education Network) portal, a Global Knowledge Network for sharing knowledge, resources and expertise on Voter Education. VoICE.NET was launched on October 20, 2016 at the International Conference on Voter Education for Inclusive, Informed and Ethical Participation held at New Delhi. The Global Knowledge Network is a part of the New Delhi Declaration adopted at the Conference by the 25 Election Management Bodies and representatives from UNDP, International IDEA, IFES and Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre. At present, VoICE.NET has 27 members, which includes Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world and reputed international organizations.  The portal is managed by Election Commission of India.  

#Go Assist – Matdata Mitras in the Abode of the Clouds, empowering the youth powering the nation – Unleashing the Power of Poll Volunteers for Accessible Elections -By F R Kharkongor, CEO Meghalaya   Matdata denotes an individual’s inalienable right to vote, and Mitra means friend. In Meghalaya this time, with the objective of ensuring that, “No Voter should truly be left behind” over and above other measures and initiatives, undertaken, hundreds of young and future voters were effectively mobilized as Election friends or Matdata Mitras, in the just concluded Lok Sabha Elections 2019, covering both the Shillong Parliamentary and Tura Parliamentary seats, spread over 3167 Polling Stations, across 60 Assembly Constituencies. Anchored on the firm belief, that it is critical to meaningfully engage the hearts and minds of impressionable young and future voters, a much larger dividend accrues from ensuring that, it is only by actually empowering the youth, that one can also tangibly power the nation. With this end in mind, to ensure the fulfilment of the 3E’s of Engage, Empower and Express, the initiative to involve, train and deploy the Matdata Mitras, became an article of faith for Meghalaya in the recently concluded LS 2019, in the context of Inclusive and Accessible Elections. The journey commenced a few months prior, to Lok Sabha Elections 2019, when the ECI sought specific inputs from the state, for developing suitable guidelines on the functioning of Poll Volunteers, which envisaged an enlargement and deepening of their role for LS 2019. Accordingly, building on the basic premise that “No voter should be left behind”, the role of the Poll Volunteer was gradually crafted and fashioned, aimed at meeting the objectives of inclusive and accessible elections. This initiative was gradually institutionalized by the ECI, as part of its general guidelines to achieve Assured Minimum Facilities (AMFs) in its entirety in a Polling Station, which act as a corner stone of electoral democracy. Through these assorted measures, the Poll Volunteer acquired a new centrality, on being listed as a mandatory AMF requirement, in Polling Stations, galvanizing Poll Volunteers to extend prompt and visible assistance for the broad swathe of voters, covering the hitherto marginalized and left out categories of People With Disabilities (PWD), the aged and infirmed. While making a Polling Station completely accessible, continues to be a challenge in hilly terrains like Meghalaya, faced with multiple difficulties, in ensuring smooth access for voters from road to Polling Stations due to rugged terrain. Also, in scenarios where ramps exist in Polling Stations perched on precarious hill tops, Poll Volunteers emerged as the ideal solution to surmounting these logistic and geographical barriers, with their ready presence, acting as a robust bridge and support to the aged and infirmed, ultimately making access of the marginalized to Polling Stations, both a doable and an achievable exercise. Preparations towards this end, started in right earnest, as the support of all key stakeholders was readily enlisted, drawing on members of leading Youth Organisations of the state, such as MBSG, NSS, NYK and also involving Ashas, Anganwadis and Community Resource & Rehabilitation Workers, in those locations, where a youth organisations presence was not pronounced. After a series of detailed deliberations, it was decided that the Scouts & Guides, would cover all Polling booth located in schools, both in rural and urban areas, the NSS meanwhile would expand its reach to all such PS located in colleges, and in urban pockets and in District HQs, whereas the NYK would cover Rural areas, and in locations and hamlets where its rural volunteers were functioning. This was followed by a State Level Workshop in collaboration with the Josh Talks Team of motivators and influencers. The training dwelled on aspects ranging from orientation about the constitutional and democratic rights, to accessible elections with a deep focus on a Poll Volunteers specific role, on how to be engaged meaningfully with the electoral process, The training also paved the way for sensitizing and orienteering the freshly minted volunteers to gain firsthand experience, exposure, besides offering a ring side view of the entire Polling and Electoral Canvas. Post training, and prior to their deployment as Poll Volunteer each volunteer, was provided colourful Poll Volunteer kits, comprising Election branded T-Shirts, Cap and poll volunteer paraphernalia to facilitate their visible and active presence and deployment in the field.. On Poll Day the Poll Volunteers truly lived up to their task, and were seen at many places actively assisting the PWD, the aged and infirmed in various Polling Stations. In some moving images, Poll Volunteers, stood proud testimony, to the ethos of compassion in action, carrying physically disabled voters, holding a senior citizens hand and escorting them to their respective Polling Stations, readily lending their shoulders to support the weak the old and the needy. The striking images of young shoulders and tender hands/eagerly and compassionately shouldering the tasks entrusted, remains etched indelibly in the public consciousness. Undoubtedly, the meaningful engagement of the Poll Volunteers this time, generated a substantial amount of goodwill amongst the voting community, at large, and particularly amongst the marginalized and peripheral voters, therefore, for whom Poll Volunteer’s involvement will be long remembered and cherished. Leading editors in their editorials lauded the maiden foray of Poll Volunteers in the election process on Poll Day. One of the editorials, even mentioned that “…..this is a major achievement in bringing inclusiveness in the way elections are conducted in the state…the support of volunteers like Scouts & Guides, NSS is a fresh initiative in making young people engage in democracy and have a firsthand experience in the electoral process…..with these measures the office has moved one step ahead, in making a point to ensure that differently abled people and senior citizen exercise their rights without any hassle by making the polling booth truly accessible to them”. In another editorial appearing in the state’s leading daily, it was mentioned by the state’s leading editor that “the ECI has done its job commendably surpassing past efforts, and actually turning the phrase “No voter to be left behind a reality……this time the CEO has pulled all the stops to enable physically disabled voter and the elderly cast their votes without hassle….boy scouts, girl guides and NSS volunteers were seen assisting voters and volunteering happily in all the activities”. The nascent promptings of this initiative has set a benchmark in electoral engagement of the youth, and is definitely going to have a positive ramification and a wider ripple effect, and perhaps herald a deeper and positive engagement of young people in all future elections. The authentic connect established is a manifestation of that trust, which in years ahead, is sure to further expand the narrative of inclusive democracy achieved through accessible elections. The legacy achieved undoubtedly is that of a Poll Volunteer’s indelible connect with democratic ethos and electoral democracy. Poll Volunteers collective involvement on poll day, in fact, contributed substantially to amplify the message of an increasingly inclusive and accessible election. These combined efforts will definitely fulfil the noble mandate of multiplying the electoral reach, to the unreached both in a physical tangible sense, and also in ways, that are intangible, sending out a loud message that there is an election machinery that cares about its young, its old and infirm and disabled that it is concerned for each and every voter, and that, truly every voter counts, to this effect the Poll Volunteer, has truly acted as a living bridge to democracy and in the process of being empowered, has also empowered the nation and, which in turn has enriched the entire inter play between the voter, the Poll Volunteer and the voting experience especially for the PwD aged and infirm. The involvement, meaningful engagement and services rendered by the Poll Volunteers was duly recognized and their engagement would be continued and sustained through the ECI’s democratic platform of Electoral Literacy Clubs and Chunav Pathshalas.  

On the occasion of National Consultation on Accessible Elections organised on July 3rd & 4th July, 2018, an exhibition was setup by Election Commission of India showcasing the journey of elections in India, the largest democracy in the world. The Exhibition was inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat and Election Commissioners Sunil Arora and Ashok Lavasa, marking the beginning of the proceedings.   The exhibition comprised two sections:   1. Unfolding Indian Elections: India has been able to uphold its democracy, through the ebb and flow of the political and security challenges. Proving its detractors wrong, the country has survived the crisis that befell on many Asian and African nations in post-colonial era. A large measure of credit goes to the free and fair elections. They have reflected people’s will and provided for seamless transition of power at the Centre and States.   2. SVEEP initiatives: Recent SVEEP initiatives & endeavours were showcased including the new initiatives for PwDs.Following are the snippets from the exhibition showcasing the stepping stone of this journey.          Model Polling Booth   A Model Polling Booth was set-up during the two days National Consultation on Accessible Elections. The Consultation saw the participation of more than 50 Civil Society Organizations and all the Chief Electoral Officers of States/UTs besides members of National Political Parties and Ministries, Government of India and media. The motive of the Model Polling Booth was to familiarise the stakeholders with the process of voting and related aspects. Persons with Disabilities were motivated to take up the Mock Poll and provide the feedback which was further incorporated in the recommendations.         The National Consultation on Accessible Elections was the culmination of more than 3month long series of District-Level and State-Level Workshops undertaken as a part of ECI’s theme for 2018- Accessible Elections, to identify barriers in the inclusion of PwDs in the electoral process, assess the present accessibility policies in place and put forward recommendations for addressing barriers to enhance the participation of the differently-abled.    

The 9th National Voters’ Day (NVD) is celebrated across the country on 25th January 2019. The theme for NVD this year was ‘No Voter to be Left Behind’ reiterating the commitment of Election Commission of India (ECI) in view of the Lok Sabha elections due later this year.    Hon’ble President of India Sh. Ram Nath Kovind, while presiding over the National Function organized by ECI at Manekshaw Centre, Delhi hailed various interventions taken up by the Commission for conduct of free, fair and participative elections and particularly appreciated the initiatives for reaching out to voters in the remotest corner to enroll their names in the electoral roll and to encourage them to exercise the Right to Vote. Referring to his recent visit to Gir National Forest in Gujarat where he came know about set up of a polling station in the remote location that too for a single voter, Shri Kovind lauded the efforts of ECI to make every vote count in consonance with the theme of the year. He said that it speaks for the enlightenment of the framers of our Constitution that the Election Commission was set up as an independent and constitutional body at the very birth of the Republic of India. This reflects an immense regard and deep-rooted belief in democracy and the democratic spirit. Talking about the electoral process – beginning with the preparation of electoral rolls and concluding with the declaration of election results – he said it is difficult for an ordinary person to comprehend the complexity of the entire process. The President said that through all this, the credibility of Indian electoral system has continuously strengthened and Indian voters have a firm belief in the integrity, diligence, fairness and transparency of the election mechanism of the country.    Applauding winners of the National Awards the President asked them to keep contributing to conduct of free and fair elections. Congratulating the new voters who were handed over the EPIC on this occasion, he asked them to take informed decision while casting their vote and said that their decision will define the future of the country. He said voters and election commission are most crucial to democracy and they compliment each other and also appreciated various initiatives taken by the Commission under the SVEEP programme particularly mentioning the Electoral Literacy Club (ELC) Programme and the All Women Managed Polling Station initiative.   On receiving the inaugural issue of the new magazine of ECI he said that the magazine is most appropriately titled “My Vote Matters” and that every vote counts and counts equally in the formation of a government.   Speaking on the same occasion, Sh Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister, Law & Justice complimented ECI for the stellar role played by it for strengthening the Indian democracy. He lauded the courage, commitment and foresight shown by successive Commissions for conduct of free & fair elections and said that all should trust and believe the sanctity of the election process. Appreciating various initiatives of ECI for voter education and outreach he said voter education is integral to a good democracy.   Earlier while addressing the audience, Shri Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commissioner reiterated Commission’s commitment to make elections more and more inclusive, voter friendly, transparent and festive and shared the new initiatives being taken up for efficient and effective connect with the voters and for strengthening the elector confidence. He briefed the audience about the cVIGIL initiative that provides time stamped evidentiary proof of model code of conduct and expenditure violation by empowering every citizen to click a photo or video using  Smartphone.   In his welcome address, Shri Ashok Lavas, Election Commissioner briefed the audience about the significance of the day, saying that on this day we celebrate liberty and maturing of young minds into responsible citizens and thanked all stakeholders including voluntary organisations for their support.   My Vote Matters, a quarterly bi-lingual magazine was launched at the function and the First Issue was presented by the Commission to the Hon’ble President of India. The new magazine hosts interesting and informative articles on many core subjects, new initiatives and topics of concurrent interest in elections, electoral processes and practices with the objective of developing a larger connect and interface with all the Stakeholders.   As part of the regular NVD activity of felicitating the newly eligible voter, 6 young voters from Delhi were handed over their EPIC by the Hon’ble President.   The National Awards for the Best Electoral Practices were conferred to Officers for outstanding performance in the conduct of elections. Special Awards were given to Departments and Officers from various departments for their contribution in smooth conduct of elections the general election to the Assemblies of 9 states in 2018. In addition, Awards were also given to CSOs and Media Houses who have made outstanding contribution in the field of voter awareness and outreach in these elections.  (Brochure attached)   Chief Election Commissioners and senior officials from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Russia and Sri Lanka graced the occasion. Members of Political Parties, Members of Parliament besides Diplomats from various countries and representatives from national and international organizations working in the area of democracy and elections attended the national function and also visited the new campus of the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) at Dwarka, New Delhi.