Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg chaired a meeting of Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral participation here today focusing on collaboration done by Election Commission of India (ECI) with partner departments and corporations.
While addressing the senior officers, he said that the election department has taken many innovative steps under the guidance of ECI to encourage the voters to come out in greater numbers in the State.
He directed the collaborating partner departments to promote voter education programs and initiatives to make the electoral process more inclusive, informative and participative by optimally utilizing their huge infrastructure across the state.
Presentations on various initiatives suggested by ECI were also showcased in the meeting. CEO emphasized the Food and civil supplies department and Civil supplies corporation on the need for more focused voter awareness programmes to educate the prospective voters by installing hoardings and banners at all Petrol Pumps and all their Fair Price Shops.
Shri Garg asked Indian Oil Corporation to install hoardings at all the 700 plus petrol pumps in the state at the earliest and also direct LPG distributors on the usage of danglers on the gas cylinders containing voter awareness messages.
The Bus Stands, Railway Stations can play SVEEP-themed messages on their public announcement systems along with routine announcements, he added.He stressed on greater utilization of this wide network for spreading awareness regarding voting in upcoming Lok Sabha and Bye-elections in Himachal Pradesh.
Additional CEO Dalip Negi also gave valuable inputs during the meeting. Director Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Ram Kumar Gautam, Additional CEO Neelam Dulta, Senior officers of Food and HP State Civil Supplies Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation were also present among others in the meeting.