Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today led the 10th National Voters’ Day celebrations across J&K by being part of a Voter’s Day awareness program organized by Election Department at the Convention Centre, Jammu.Sh. Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor; Sh. BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance; Sh. Navin Kumar Choudhary, Principal Secretary to Government , Education department ; Sh. Shailendra Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Jammu and Kashmir; Sh. Sanjeev Verma, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Ms. Sushma Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner Jammu and other senior and sectoral officers besides large number of young students and people from all walks of life were present on the occasion.During his address, the Lt Governor observed that the main purpose of celebrating the National Voters’ Day is to encourage the new eligible young voters to get them registered in the electoral rolls and also to popularise electoral practices through Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP).He emphasized that in line with this year’s theme of the 10th National Voters’ Day -“Electoral Literacy for a Stronger Democracy”, there is a need to set up Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs) in Schools and all other Educational Institutions to educate the youth about the electoral process. He said that the aim of mainstreaming of electoral literacy is to involve the young voters in electoral process, besides to spread the awareness among them so that they can cast their votes with responsibility and participate in the development of the country.
The Lt Governor observed that voting is the elemental concept for any democratic set up. It is the most fundamental right in our democracy and when we elect our representatives collectively through the process of voting, it affirms the belief that we govern ourselves by our own free will.He further outlined that voters are the lifeblood of a healthy and blooming democracy and exercising the right to vote is the expression of one’s opinion, which holds high value in a representative democracy like ours and as such there is not only the need to encourage the eligible young voters to get themselves registered in the electoral rolls but also to popularise the electoral practices, stimulate informed debates and deliberations among the stakeholders thereby underscoring focus on making the citizens fully informed and helping them in making political judgments based on rationality and with a vision of taking the country forward.The Lt Governor congratulated the Election Department for adding more than 4.35 lakh new voters to the electoral rolls of the Union Territory in Special Summary Revision-2019.He also felicitated the Electoral Officers with Union Territory Awards for Best Electoral Practices. Dr. Piyush Singla, DEO Udhampur and Sh. Anshul Garg, DEO Kupwara were bestowed with Best District Election Officer Award while Sh. Mohd Ahsaan Mir and Sh. Zameer Ahmed Rishu bagged the Best Electoral Registration Officer awards. Best BLO Award was bagged by Sh. Naresh Kumar, Sh. Mohd Shafi Paswal, Sh. Yaseer Rashid, Sh. Jahangir Latief and Sh. Farooq Ahmed.Special Awards were given to Sh. Swayam Prakash Pani, IPS; Sh. Rahul Yadav DEO Poonch; Sh. Anil Salgotra, Joint Chief Electoral Officer; Sh. Baiju Ubbott,Scientist- D,NIC; Sh. Rajan Sharma, I/c GM SICOP and Sh. Riaz Ahmed Butt,State Nodal Officer, SVEEP.The Lt Governor administered Voters’ Pledge to the participants and also issued new Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) to the newly registered voters including a couple of specially abled voters on the sidelines of the function. Local artists presented a play outlining the value of voting and captivated the audience with their performances.