State: Himachal Pradesh Proforma Sr. Name of Activity No. 1 Brief outline on Campus/School Ambassadors appointments and work done by them throughout the year. 2 Brief outline on appointment of designated officers in educational institutions during this period, their training and activities, and all the activities undertaken in educational institutions during this period. Activity taken Identification of students, teachers and nonteaching staff and their family members and relatives who were not registered in the electoral rolls and those without EPIC or with wrong EPICs. Providing the facility for registration of their names in the electoral roll by making available appropriate forms. Forms duly filled, got collected and deposited with the concerned EROs. Educated campus electorates about the electoral process i.e. registration, correction of errors, transposition of names, voting process and ethical voting. Created the core team of students to work as volunteers for informing and motivating, general public in general and campus students in particular, about electoral process. Designated Officers were appointed in all the higher educational institutions. The officers so appointed were properly sensitized and trained about the concept of democracy, the role of electorate in democracy, the process and the procedure of becoming an elector, procedure of voting and the concept of ethical voting so that they could further inform, motivate the students and their parents to participate in electoral process. As no country can rise above to the level of its teachers, this experiment bore fruitful results. 3 Details of activities undertaken by NSS, NYKS and NCC SVEEP units were established in NSS, NYKS and NCC units. Volunteers were sensitized about the role of electors in strengthening democracy. The volunteers so sensitized further organized events like nukkad nataks, prabhat pheris, stop complaining start voting campaigns come out and vote campaigns to inform, educate and communicate with the masses to enroll themselves and subsequently participate in electoral process. 4 Details of young voter s festival. Youth festivals are organized by the Himachal Pradesh University every year in which all the colleges run by UGC participate. Campus Ambassadors appointed in these institutions make full use of this platform for spreading awareness among masses about electoral process. In addition to
5 The work done on SVEEP activities undertaken during Summary Revision programme to get the youth to enroll themselves and any other innovative activity taken up during the year for female voters or for differently abled voters or for excluded communities etc. this several events specifically based on democracy and electoral process like debate and declamation contests, skit competitions, rangoli events, slogan writing competition are also organized. Furthermore, events like Run for Fun outdoor broadcast activities, flash mobs etc. involving Campus Ambassadors at public places are also organized from time to time. The following have been implemented during Special Summary Revision of Photo Electoral Rolls-2016 Targeted campaign on major gaps like Gender ratio, Urban apathy, Youth participation, Weaker sections, Physically Challenged etc. formed a part of State and District plan. Promos of Cultural Icons, on registration, participation in electoral process, were utilized for widest possible publicity. Get connected to your BLO campaign was launched for publicizing the details of BLOs to general public, using different media. Formation of Village Awareness Groups for informing and spreading awareness across the state. Live-in-phone programmes on voter awareness were organized through AIR and Doordarshan. Posters prepared in house at State headquarter level and got circulated to all Gram Panchayats, Mahila Mandals, Yuvak mandals, Self-Help Groups through Electoral Registration Officers, for wide publicity. Handbills prepared in house at State headquarter level for further distribution amongst the public through organizations, voluntary groups, school children etc. Toll free number 1950 installed at the call centre of CEOs office for disseminating various informations related to Electoral Rolls. Inter-personal communication with the general public through 228 Block Resource Co-ordinator (BRCs), 2012 Cluster Resource Co-ordinators ( CRCs) and about 15000 School Management Committees (SMCs). Formation of Booth Awareness Groups with BLOs as its co-ordinators and ASHA, AWW,
Village Health Workers, Gram Sevaks, Representatives of Mahila Mandals and Self Help Groups and one or two emeinent persons of the village, as its members. Establishment of Voter Awareness Units in organisations like NSS, NCC, Nehru Yuva Kendras, Mahila Mandals, Bharat Scouts and Guides, Red Cross Societies, YMCA, YWCA, Youth/Student Organisations etc. Making best use of technology/social media like SMS, Facebook, twitter, youtube etc. Meaningful and collaborative engagement with media. Multiple hoardings at prominent public places have been put up to provide additional information on electoral process. Prabhat Pheris, Nukad Nataks and similar outdoor broadcasting activities have been performed. Awareness messages given during morning prayers in Sr. Sec. Schools. 150 Campus Ambassadors in UGC run Colleges/Universities and Sr. Sec. Schools across the state were appointed who further motivated and facilitated the fellow students for their enrolment and subsequent participation in electoral process. Facilitation Camps at prominent public places have been organized at regular intervals. Innovative:- Hamir Utsav A Stall was setup by Election Office in Hamir Utsav (Which is a major cultural festival and goes on for three days) for Imparting Information Regarding Registration and to create awareness among the voters. Leaflets were also distributed among the people regarding this. Prashasan Janata Ke Dwar Various camps of Prashashan Janata Ke Dwar were organized in which stress was laid on enrollment of names and electoral participation. People were apprised about democratic values. Run For Fun Rally on Voter Awareness An event was organized by the Chief Electoral Office on dated 10th October,
2015 to sensitizing the youth on enrollment and electoral participation. 6 Details of the activities undertaken in the run up to NVD organized in January 2016, as well as brief outline of the State level NVD function held on 25 th January, 2016, alongwith the awards conferred at State level NVD National Voters Day function was organized on 25th January, 2016, at the State, Districts and Polling Stations levels in Himachal Pradesh. The objective of celebration of the National Voters Day is to spread the message of the Commission to increase the enrolment of voters by using this occasion and to make universal adult franchise a complete reality, thereby further improving the quality of Indian democracy. The day was also utilized to generate awareness among young voters about their effective participation in the electoral process besides ethical voting for a healthy democracy. The 6th State level National Voters Day function was jointly organized with that of District Shimla at Multipurpose Hall of Gaiety Cultural Complex, The Mall, Shimla. This year Sh. Ajay Mittal, Additional Chief Secretary to the Govt. of Himachal Pradesh was the Chief Guest. Besides Sh. Ajay Mittal, Chief Guest the function was attended by Hon ble Mayor and Dy. Mayor, Shimla, Chief Electoral Officer, Himachal Pradesh, District Election Officer (DC), Shimla, all the personnel of Election Department and a host of other dignitaries from State Govt., Centre Government and Social and Cultural Organisations from the State and representatives of Electronic & Print Media. The function commenced with the lighting of lamp by the Chief Guest followed by Vande Matram. Welcoming the Chief Guest and the citizens present during the function, Chief Electoral Officer, Himachal Pradesh, Sh. Narinder Chauhan emphasised that Election Commission is concerned about the greater participation in the country s electoral process as against the present level of apathy and non-involvement among certain sections, especially the youth including the new voters, in electoral process. He further emphasized the need to spread awareness among all sections of voters regarding effective participation in the electoral process to make our democracy a vibrant democracy and also to take up a vigorous exercise to identify all eligible voters attaining the age of 18 years as on 1st January every year, in all polling station areas and to enrol them on time. As the moto
of the ECI for this year is INCLUSIVE AND QUALITATIVE PARTICIPATION (सम प र ण एव ग र त मक भ ग द र ), the CEO advised the electoral officers to spare no time and energy to see to it that our electoral process becomes an example not only for us but other democratic countries also. Thereafter, the message of the Chief Election Commissioner, Dr. Nasim Zaidi, was displayed on the screen using projector which was followed by the administering of NVD pledge to the participants by the Chief Guest. This was followed by cultural programmes on the theme of National Voters Day by the artists of Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti and Kala Acadamy, Shimla. The following were the highlights of the cultural programme:- 1.ऱघ न ट क च न व चररत रम 2. ऱघ न ट क ठ णर य र म 3. न त य रघ पत र घव र ज र म 4. श र ववक क च ह न, (Election Icon) क प रस त After the cultural programme the newly registered voters belonging to the polling stations located within the radius of 2 Kms. of State Hqrs. were felicitated with NVD badges and Voter Identity Cards by the Chief Guest followed by group photograph of newly registered voters with the Chief Guest.. Addressing the newly reregistered voters and other citizens present, the Chief Guest, Sh.Ajay Mittal, expressed his thoughts on the National Voters Day function. Speaking on the occasion Chief Guest said that youth attaining the age of 18 years should be enrolled in the electoral rolls in a big way, so that they could actively participate in the political process of the country. He added that their active participation in the electoral process would strengthen the roots of democracy. He further said that the youth should understand their duty towards the nation and know the high values of national character and patriotism. Thereafter a brief award ceremony was held in which the state level awards for Best Electoral Practices for the year 2015 were given to following categories :-
7 Details of SVEEP activities taken up through electronic channels i.e. FM channel, All India Radio, Doordarshan etc. also through print media i.e. newspapers, magazines etc. and through social media. 8 Any new partnerships for spreading awareness on elections. 9 Other achievement, SVEEP activities not covered in the above points may also be mentioned, for the purpose of documentation. 1. District Election Officers/Electoral Registration Officers. 2. Media Awards. 3. Booth Level Officers. At the end of the function the District Election Officer (DC), Shimla, proposed a Vote of Thanks to the Chief guests and other participants. Live-in-phone programmes on voter awareness were organized through AIR by Joint Chief Electoral Officer and Assistant Chief Electoral Officer and OSD (SVEEP) during NERPAP and Revision Period. Advertisements on enrollment scrolling on the local TV Channels on a regular basis. Jingles/promos have been telecast/broadcast through TV/FM/AIR Channels. Press note at regular intervals given in leading national/regional newspapers having wide circulation in the state. Sakshar Bharat programme run by Ministry of HRD Govt. of India Permanent Facilitation Centre in the shape of the canopy has been established at Sugam Centre of each district in the state.