With Amritsar based conjoined twins Sohan Singh and Mohan Singh, fondly known as Sohna-Mohna, turned 18 last year, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Punjab Dr S Karuna Raju on Tuesday handed over two separate Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) to both of them to mark the 12th National Voters’ Day. Special arrangements will be made for Sohna and Mohna, so that both can vote separately, while ensuring that their privacy could be maintained, the CEO said.Notably, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had considered Sohna and Mohna as separate voters and decided to give individual voting rights to both of them.The CEO has also symbolically handed over five more EPIC cards to the first-time voters during the State Level Event organised at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA) here, while, Deputy Commissioners-cum-District Election Officers (DC-cum-DEO), who have joined the event virtually have handed over the EPIC card to first time voters at district level. A video message of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Shri Sushil Chandra was also played on the occasion.The CEO accompanied by Additional CEO DPS Kharbanda along with DEOs, officials and audience present also took pledge to promote democratic Electoral Participation.
The theme for this year’s National Voters’ Day is ‘Making Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative’.Dr Raju also unveiled the poster of ‘Know Your Candidate’ mobile application, using which electors can know the particulars and criminal antecedents of any candidate. He also launched a demo video of the mobile app and urged the voters of the state to download the app.He said that the mobile app has been developed to provide wide publicity and greater awareness regarding criminal antecedents of contesting candidates to ensure transparent elections. This app can be downloaded from Google play store and Apple App store and the link is also available on the Commission's website, he informed.During the event, Gurpreet Singh, a fine arts teacher from Patiala drawn a virtual live painting from DC Office Patiala, while Theatre Artists (Bhands)-- Sukhdev Singh Ladhar and Inder Manuke-- from Moga performed live from DC Office Moga to sensitise and encourage voters to exercise their franchise during upcoming Punjab Assembly Elections on February 20, 2022.Later, the CEO also announced the winners of the Short Film Competition and Poster Design Competition. The winners will get their prizes and cash rewards at district level.