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National Voters' Day celebrated in India

The 8th National Voters Day was celebrated on 25th January 2018 by the Election Commission of India in New Delhi, India. The event was graced by the Hon'ble President of India, Ram Nath Kovind as the Chief Guest along with Minister of Law & Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad. The celebrations revolved around the theme 'Accessible Elections', which expressed ECI's pursuit of working towards making the electoral process more inclusive and friendly for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

NewsLetter

On the occasion, the President congratulated young voters who recently turned 18 and got the right to vote for the first time. "Our Constitution empowers an independent Election Commission. And our election process makes every vote important, with the right to equality and freedom", he said. The newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner O. P. Rawat informed the gathering that the Commission has taken several initiatives in its continued endeavor to encourage and enhance inclusive, informed and ethical electoral participation from all categories of voters, with special focus on PwDs. The initiatives integrate technology and media including social media for efficiency and efficacy of connect with the voters down to the polling station level in consonance with the motto 'No voter to be left behind'. "Guidelines are already in place on the subject. We intend to consolidate our efforts on accessible elections based on the insights of this Conference", he said.

NewsLetter

Introducing the best electoral practices awards, Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora appreciated the role of all those who were selected for the awards. Earlier, Election Commissioner, Ashok Lavasa delivered welcome address and congratulated young electors, who have become eligible as voter on 1st January, 2018. Hon'ble President of India conferred the National Awards for the Best Electoral Practices to officers deputed in the election machinery. These awards were in recognition of outstanding efforts employed in the area of Election Management, Voters Education and Electoral Participation, Information Technology, Security Management and Innovation in Elections.

NewsLetter

The NVD event witnessed the felicitation of the National Champions of the National Election Quiz 2018. National Elections Quiz, the largest elections quiz in the world yet, had an astounding participation of more than 13.5 lakh students of 9-12th standard from 38 thousand schools across the country. Subsequently, 'Millennium Voters' from Delhi were felicitated with their Voter ID cards at the function. These Millennium Voters were young adults, who were born on 1 January 2000 and qualified as eligible voters on 1st January this year.

NewsLetter

The President also inaugurated the first edition of VoICE India – a biannual magazine which brings forth best practices, innovations, knowledge derived from practical experience and success stories of the election machinery that exists in every corner of India. The NVD function furthermore officially marked the launch of Electoral Literacy Clubs in schools across the nation that aim to introduce electoral literacy to the future voters of the country.

NewsLetter

The National Voters' Day is celebrated on the 25th of January every year observing the foundation of the organization on this date in the year, 1950.