Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation Programs By EC

‘No Voter to be Left Behind’ is the watchword governing the policies and plans of the Election Commission in India. Through its campaigns and election conducting strategies, the EC wishes to realize universal adult suffrage. The EC has also directed the State election machinery to draft the state level SVEEP Plans, approves them and implements them in a closely monitored fashion.

The principal aspects of the SVEEP activities for the upcoming Delhi Assembly Elections

• Increasing the voter registration and voter turnout
• Ensuring the qualitative participation of the voters in the election process
• Creating a mass awareness among the voters about the use of EVMs and VVPATs
• Sensitizing the different stakeholders of the elections including the elections staff, political parties, general public, and the family members of the PwD voters on active participation in the elections
• Disseminating the information about elections to all the stakeholders in a timely and reliable manner.

In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives, the EC has launched a comprehensive and systematic voters’ education and electoral participation program in the Delhi Assembly Election Jurisdiction. Some of the salient aspects of SVEEP are given under.

Postal ballot facility extended

The EC will provide the facility of postal ballot to senior citizens above the age of 80 and persons with disabilities. For the first time, an exclusive kind of outreach activities are being launched for the sake of publicizing this facility among the needy to let them know how it will work.

Voter Facilitation Centers

Within the Delhi Assembly election jurisdiction, Voter Facilitation Centers will be set up in order to facilitate voters. The Voter Helpline number of 1950 will remain active for the sake of attending to the queries of the voters. In addition, the EC has also launched the “Voter Helpline App”. The EC has also provided an SMS facility on 1950 to help electors verify their names on the Voter list (Electoral Rolls).

Dissemination of election related information to the public

The EC has taken adequate steps to make sure that the election related information is widely disseminated among the public. Facilitation measures will be implemented to increase the voter turnout and there will also be some reminder services on the poll days.

Electoral Literacy Clubs

EC is making use of the services of Electoral Literacy Clubs (Chunav Pathshala) to connect with the youth and enhance the awareness about the elections and disseminate the election related information for the purpose of motivating the voters and facilitating their participation. This machinery will also be used to spread awareness and knowledge about the use of EVMs and VVPATs.

To achieve the target of ‘No voter to be Left Behind’, the EC has identified the lowest turnout polling stations and has analyzed the reasons for the low turnout in these places. Based on the findings, the EC will implement targeted intervention programs to increase the voter turnout.

Measures to motivate the targeted groups

EC has launched a series of special outreach activities for motivating the targeted groups including youth women, PwD, senior citizens, NRI voters, service personnel, transgender, and migrants and make them participate in the elections in more numbers.