By Our Reporter
Shillong: In a bid to leverage maximum participation of people in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the East Khasi Hills district administration on Wednesday launched the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP – II) here at the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
Speaking on the occasion, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner, Sanjay Goyal, said that the motive of the campaign is to attract the youth in the electoral process.
To further create awareness among the youth on the importance of enrolling themselves for the voting procedure, the administration has identified a total of 20 ambassadors from different educational institutions across the city to engineer the task of generating maximum awareness.
Earlier, ADM, DM Wahlang, informed that there has been a dismal turnout of voters in urban areas like Pynthorumkhrah, Mawlai, Shillong North, East and West in the last Assembly election in the State held earlier this year, and now the district administration is making all efforts to ensure a considerable rise in the turnout, with a special focus on the targeted group (18 years and above) to come forward, participate and vote in the upcoming elections.
Giving a brief presentation on the programme, EAC, N Hajong, said the objective of the SVEEP-II is to increase the percentage of enrolment in the newly eligible 18 – 19 years age group from existing 35 – 40 per cent to close to 100 per cent, besides bridging the gap in registration in urban areas.
The programme further aims at increasing the NRI registration from the present low level of around 0.1 per cent to at least 10 per cent, he added.
Special campaigns through print and electronic media will be run for voters’ awareness, regional and/or local icons may be identified by the State and promos for registration may be prepared using them, after getting approval of the Election Commission on the content (messages), in addition to the national icons of ECI.
Meanwhile, the district administration in collaboration with the Directorate of Educational Research and Training (DERT) will also organise street plays in different languages to create awareness among the target group on the importance of exercising their voting rights.