SHILLONG: The office of the Chief Electoral Officer organised an awareness programme cum live product demo on EVM/VVPAT for academic institutions at Shillong Club on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion, CEO Frederick R Kharkongor said the awareness programme was part of the ongoing campaigns conducted throughout the state. The programme has covered 2,000 polling stations out of the 3,167 in Meghalaya, he informed.
To reach out to the eligible voters and urge them to exercise their votes, the Election Department has utilised all media from art, music to videos. Kharkongor said the department will soon roll out the Queue Management App that aims to target urban apathy during polling. Through this app, voters will be informed about the state of the queue in their respective polling stations, enabling voters to come and cast their votes when the queue is not too long.
Another app that will be rolled out is the Meghalaya Voters’ App that aims to provide information about a voter’s polling station, epic details and candidate background.
The C-Vigil App, which has been developed, will enable citizens to click and upload pictures of any act of violation of the model code of conduct. “All these efforts will go a long way to ensure free and fair elections,” the CEO said.
Kharkongor also informed that the Meghalaya Sign Bank App has already been launched to ensure that those with disabilities can also take part in the election process.
A presentation on EVM and VVPAT was also made by KG Nongrum, senior system engineer, and videos related to elections were also screened on the occasion.
Other events were campus engagement panel discussion on EVM VVPAT, digitisation of election process powered by Facebook Live and Josh Talks at NEHU on Wednesday.
The Citizens TownHall is an initiative for India to meaningfully engage its over 130 million first-time voters in the forthcoming elections.
Hence, the conversations highlighted imparting voter awareness and civic responsibility among young and first-time voters.
This time around Meghalaya has over 76,782 first-time voters representing 4.06 per cent of the total 18,92,716 voters.
