‘Mark, Markor’ mascots launched as part of SVEEP
SHILLONG: The State Election department has targeted to enroll over 1.28 lakh voters during the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme which was launched here on Friday.
Speaking at the launching of the campaign, Chief Electoral Officer, Frederick Kharkongor said that around 82,668 young voters will also be enrolled under the campaign.
According to Kharkongor, there are over 16.59 lakh voters in the State.
The number of projected voters by January 2017 is 1.28 lakh and out of this, at least 82,000 persons will be in the age-group of 18-19 years.
He further informed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has granted extension till September to the State for the completion of the entire process of “purification of electoral rolls” under National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) in view of the recently concluded Tura bye-election.
The process will help to identify the persons under the category of ASD (absent, shift and dead voters).
While stating that the process had already begun in the districts of Khasi-Jaintia hills region, he said that over 2500 booth level officers (BLOs) have been engaged to ensure that the exercise is completed within September.
Meanwhile, to detect the errors in the electoral rolls, the ECI has introduced a unique software for detecting as many as 17 types of errors.
The software will help in detecting various errors like multiple entries, repetition of voters’ names among others.
It may be mentioned that the SVEEP programme intends to increase the enrollment of voters in the State.
The programme was a huge success during 2012-13 when election for State Legislative Assembly was held. The election mascot which was also launched on Friday is the clouded leopard, the State animal, which will “create 360 degree awareness among the voters”.
The male mascot would be named as ‘Mark’, while the female would be called ‘Markor’ or ‘Precious in Khasi’ signifying that rights, choice and votes are precious.
The male and female mascots are dressed in Khasi-Jaintia-Garo attire aimed at reaching out to larger sections of people of the state.
The election department will also organize festivals in schools and colleges after appointing campus ambassadors. The election mascots will be part of the festivals.
Meanwhile, the Election department has also roped in the second woman from the State to scale Mount Everest, Dolyne Kharbhih, as one of the icons who will be engaged in the SVEEP campaigns.