Poll panel’s special drive for students

any coaching student (in Kota) belonging to any part of the country ...can enrol himself in the voter list of the Kota parliamentary constituency

MUKTANAND AGARWAL, district election officer, Kota

KOTA: With around 2 lakh coaching students staying in the coaching city, the district election office of Kota, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next month, will run focussed voter awareness programs to enrol coaching students in the city.

A large population of students flocks to Kota from across the country for coaching in medical and engineering entrance examinations every year, and often attain legal voting age during their stay in Kota.

This often prevents them from including their names in the voters list of their native places, rendering them unable to cast their votes.

Coaching students in Kota usually remain aloof from the electoral process during both the a s s e mbl y a s we l l a s the Lok Sabha polls.

The district administration and also district election office of Kota have planned awareness campaigns among the coaching students to get themselves registered in the Kota parliamentary constituency voters’ list .

The district election officer, Kota, Muktanand Agarwal, at a press conference on Lok Sabha preparations in Kota, said, “If any coaching student belonging to any part of the country is not listed in the voter list of his native place and is staying in Kota from long time and also wishes to cast his vote in the coming Lok Sabha polls in Kota, then he can enrol himself in the voter list of the Kota parliamentary constituency prior to the end of this month.”

“Students can approach the concerned booth level officer (BLO) of their area with Form 6 and other required documents like Aadhaar card and documents to confirm his stay in Kota like tenancy agreement,” he said.

About creating awareness among students for getting themselves enrolled in voters list of Kota parliamentary constituency, Agarwal said that awareness programs would be organized in major coaching institutes of Kota for inclusion of names in voter list so that students eligible to vote can exercise their vote.

“As per the Election Commission of India’s guidelines, any person who has attained the age of 18 years as on 1 January 2019 can get himself enrolled in the voter list for coming Lok Sabha polls,” Agarwal said.

He said that there are 1.9 million voters in Kota.

Polling in the city would take place on 29 April.

Counting will take place on May 23 after a seven-phase election, starting from April 11 and ending on May 19.