With the new reformation of Special Summary Revision, 2023, any individual who is turning 18 years within the four qualifying dates till October can get registered themselves as legal voters, said Chief Electoral Officer, Manipur Rajesh Agrawal who is also Principal Secretary (Election).
The CEO was speaking on the sideline to the media during a one-day State Level Consultative Workshop on Electoral Literacy Club (ELC) programme held at Hotel Classic Grande, Chingmeirong, Imphal on Thursday.
The workshop was organised by the Chief Electoral Officer, Manipur.
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He said with new reformation of SSR, 2023, any individual can register themselves as legal voter if they turned 18 years within four qualifying dates which are January 1, 2023; April 1, 2023; July1, 2023 and October 1, 2023.
Agrawal said when the individual gets registered, their EPIC card (voter card) will be sent to them through post when they get qualified with the respective qualifying dates.
He said registering oneself as a legal voter is the first step towards electoral empowerment for a democratic country.
He said the main objective of the workshop is to educate the targeted population about voter registration, electoral process and related matters through hands-on experiences.
He said there are around 500 ELCs in schools, colleges and other institutions and during the workshop the ELCs will be given knowledge to encourage registering themselves as legal voters if the individual is 18 years and above.
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CEO said the objectives for ELCs is also to facilitate EVM and VVPAT familiarisation and education about the robustness of EVM as well as the integrity of the electoral process using EVMs. To help the target audience understand the value of their vote and exercise their right to franchise in a confident, comfortable and ethical manner. To harness the potential of ELC members for carrying electoral literacy in communities and to facilitate voter registration for its eligibility members who are not yet registered.
He said during the workshop the ELCs will be made aware of the reforms of the electoral landscape.
Agrawal appealed to the people to get registered as legal voters if they are eligible to get registered and to enjoy their voting rights.
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During the workshop joint chief electoral officer (II), Md S Daulat Khan who is also Manipur and State Nodal Officer for SVEEP, gave a presentation on electoral literacy.
In the presentation he described what works to be done by the members of ELC, objectives of ECLs, mandatory rules to be followed by ELCs and others.
During the workshop around 100 members from different ELCs attended.
