Voting awareness: With street play and camps, EC reaches out to homeless

NEW DELHI: With several candidates locked in a tight race for the top spot in Delhi Assembly elections, every vote is important which includes the votes of over 10,000 homeless who live in the city.

The Election Commission (EC), with the help of Nukkad Natak (street play)and awareness camps, is reaching out to these shelterless people, urging them to cast their votes on February 8.

Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh told

that they

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have organised voter registration camps for homeless people in the city.

"Special camps were set up at various homeless shelters in the city to enrol them as voters," he said adding that they had done the same thing before the Lok Sabha polls as well.

He further said, "What happens often is that alot of these people live under flyovers and such places. So once they say that they live under a particular flyover the commission sends officials to verify whether they are found there or not in two separate rounds of verification. They have also collaborated with an NGO that works for the cause of homeless people to reach out to such voters and motivate them to vote."

Another official said that they are encouraging homeless to exercise their right to vote, and spreading awareness through street plays.

"On February 1, with the help of an NGO CHD, they have organised a street play at Yamuna Pushta area. They were aware about functioning of EVM VVPAT," he said.

Meanwhile, Sunil Aledia from the NGO, said that there are over 10,000 homeless voters in the city.

"During campaigns we were encouraging people to vote and informing about the importance of voting. Every vote counts to select the right candidate for the country," he said.

There are 234 shelter homes including permanent, porta cabins, tents in the city with occupancy of 18,538 people.

The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) official Bipin Rai said, "With the help of Election Commission, we have created awareness about how to cast their vote using the EVM," Rai said.