Shillong, Jan 25: The office of the CEO, Meghalaya organized the State Level Celebrations of the 12th National Voters’ Day programme at State Central Library Auditorium today on the theme of “Making Elections Inclusive, Accessible & Participative”.
V. Suchiang, Chief Secretary to the Govt. of Meghalaya attended the function as the Chief Guest in the presence of F. R. Kharkongor, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Isawanda Laloo, DC & District Election Officer, other senior Govt. officials, Head of Educational Institutions, Disability NGOs, creative artists, State & District BLO Icons, Disability Icons and various Youth Organizations and students.
The programme kicked off with a Walkathon – “Walk for Democracy”, which was flagged off by the DC early in the morning and escorted by the cyclists of the Meghalaya Cyclist Association.
The official programme commenced with the Chief Guest inaugurating a specially curated photo exhibition – Democracy@50 showcasing Meghalaya elections at the time of Statehood, wherein frames were made by PwDs – this was followed by a voter’s pledge which was administered by the Chief Guest. Other highlights of the programme included a special musical choreography on – Why stand in line when you can do it online by RITI Academy, performance by disability icons Light after Dark, special electoral duet by Catliypz. EPICs were also distributed to the newly enrolled voters along with a special voter’s kit which was launched at this year’s NVD.
The Chief Guest also felicitated S. Basiawmoit, and M. Warjri as State and District Level Icons respectively in recognition of the dedicated services of BLOs, who are the real foot soldiers of the Election Machinery and Democracy & act as dynamic links between the voter and the election machinery in E2E Enrolment to Election process. On the occasion the dignitaries also released two special publications – The BLO Ready Reckoner cum Directory and the ELC Electorama Volume – II on the activities of the Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs).
In her speech the Chief Secretary highlighted on the centrality of the voter, who remains the heartbeat of democracy. She also dwelled on the importance of engaging the multiple stakeholders in an Election process and the need to reach out to each and every voter by means of technology and online engagement so as to ensure that “No Voter is left behind”.
She also urged the Election machinery to respond to the challenges of conducting elections during the pandemic especially in the context of the forth coming general elections due in 2023 which will be held in 60 Assembly Constituencies and across 3335 Polling Stations.
The CEO, F. R. Kharkongor focused on the progressive and dynamic approach of the ECI in the adoption of the latest technologies and initiatives taken to leverage on information communication technology with a view to reach out educate, and improve electoral literacy through the extensive usage of various technologies such as NVSP (National Voters Service Portal), Voter Helpline App and the BLO GARUDA App.
The DEO and DC East Khasi Hills in her speech highlighted on the election mode vaccination drive adopted by the East Khasi Hills District. She also dwelt at length on the increasing number of online applications received during the last Summary Revision and mentioned that over 19000 online forms were received through digital mediums like NVSP, Voter Helpline App and BLO GARUDA App.