EC officers play surprise guest role at party venues

Election officials attached to the Ovala-Majiwada assembly segment are going an extra mile to attract the attention of voters in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections for the Thane parliamentary constituency which is scheduled to be held in the fifth phase on May 20.

After roping in students to render theme-based songs and perform street plays aimed at creating awareness on the importance of voting, use of garbage collection vans mounted with public address systems (PAS) to play motivational jingles and morning walks with citizens, the election officials as a part of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme have started visiting marriages and birthday parties to promote voter awareness among the invitees.

Tangprakash Kashilingam was joyfully surprised to host some unexpected guests in the form of electoral officers at his 50th birthday celebrations at an open ground in Anna Nagar, a sprawling residential locality housing hundreds of Tamil families in Bhayandar (west).

Apart from installing voter awareness banners at the venue, the electoral officers also screened videos showing the importance of voting which decides the fate of the country for the next five years. The SVEEP team has marked its calendar to visit weddings and other occasions at party venues to promote voter awareness as a large number of people gather under one roof.

As a part of their ongoing endeavour to resonate with the younger generation and motivate them to turn out in large numbers, the district administration also installs selfie points at the celebration venues and other multiple locations. These selfie points feature slogans in various languages like “Mee Nakki Matdan Karnar” in Marathi (I will surely cast my vote), My Vote, My Right and Ready to Vote on May 20”.

SVEEP is a flagship program of the Election Commission of India (ECI) for voter education, spreading voter awareness and promoting voter literacy in the country.

The SVEEP team has marked its calendar to visit weddings and other occasions at party venues to promote voter awareness as a large number of people gather under one roof