To educate the future voters about the importance of vote in a democratic set up, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer, Shantmanu, today organized a programme titled ‘Interactive School Engagement’ at Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1.While addressing the students, the CEO encouraged them to enroll themselves as a voter and exercise their franchise as a responsible citizen. “A voter has the power to decide the structure of our democracy as by franchising his right to vote he can choose the right person for raising a truly democratic society”, he maintained. He said that voting is an agent of change and the whole edifice of our democracy is built on the foundation of voting so it must be adopted as our prime responsibility to participate in every election process.CEO, while explaining about the importance of vote, said that being a responsible citizen everyone should enroll himself and cast the vote.
He informed that, as per directions of Election Commission of India, the electoral offices at district level have been asked to select a school in their area for this activity.Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Krishan Lal, imparted brief knowledge on voting procedure including voting and electoral process, link between basic human rights and voting rights, the role, responsibilities and rights of voters, the relationship between elections and democracy and the conditions necessary for democratic elections, secrecy of the ballot, why each vote is important and its impact on public accountability, etc.A documentary and video game related to the awareness about the enrolment was also shown to the students.Later, a quiz competition was held on the occasion in which winner students were awarded prizes from the CEO.