Himachal: CEO urges young voters to exercise their franchise

Shimla, Dec 5 : Chief Electoral Officer C Pal Rasu urged young voters to exercise their franchise so as to strengthen democracy.

He was presiding over the Young Voters’ Festival which was organized today at Government College, Una.
During this, Chief Electoral Officer C Pal Rasu said that the vision of a strong democracy can be realized only when all the voters exercise their franchise.
He said that 53 lakh voters are registered in Himachal Pradesh in which the number of male and female voters is almost equal. He said that every vote is precious, so every citizen must exercise his right to vote.

He said that at present, voting is done through electronic voting machines, in which now VVPAT machines are also being used. Through the VVPAT machine, the voter can verify his vote on the spot to check whether his vote has actually gone to the preferred candidate.
Expressing concern over the low voter registration in the age group of 18 to 19 years, he called upon the youth of this age group to get their voter ID card made soon, who would have completed 18 years of age on January 1, 2022.
He said that the work of revision of voter lists will continue till December 9, in which registration of new voters is also being done along with submitting claims or objections in the voter lists.
He said that voter ID card can be generated through BLO or through app. For this, age proof and Aadhar card are required.

He directed the booth level officers to expedite the work of collection and verification of data related to voter lists through Garuda App and ensure registration of maximum youth who have completed 18 years of age.
Various activities and competitions based on importance of election and vote were organized in the program in which about 500 students including NYK Voltaires participated.

In Rangoli competition, Muskan stood first, Anjali, Aanchal and Jaspreet got second position while Manisha, Riya and Bhawna stood third. In the slogan competition, Kanchan stood first, Manisha Devi second and Tripta third, while in the poster making competition, Arun stood first, Ganesh second, and Aabhkarika and Diksha stood third.

During this, questions based on the election were also asked, for which the participants who answered correctly were rewarded on the spot. Apart from this, students of Rawmapa Bahdala and Saloh presented skits in which Bahdala School stood first and Saloh School stood second.
All those present on the occasion also downloaded the Election Commission’s Voter Helpline App on their phones and 10 new voters were provided Voter ID cards on the spot.

After this, Chief Electoral Officer C Pal Rasu also inspected the VVPAT warehouse and issued necessary guidelines.