SYSTEMATIC VOTER S EDUCATION AND ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION (SVEEP) ACTIVITIES IN DISTRICT SAMBA (J&K ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS- 2014)

SYSTEMATIC VOTER S EDUCATION AND ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION (SVEEP) ACTIVITIES IN DISTRICT SAMBA (J&K ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS- 2014)

OBJECTIVE: The Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) activities in District Samba have been undertaken with a view to increase voter awareness and their participation in the electoral processes. Various activities have been designed keeping in view the history of electoral participation in previous Lok Sabha Elections/ Assembly elections. Various target groups have been identified which have been given special focus. SVEEP is a programme initiated, anchored, coordinated and monitored by Election Commission of India, and is implemented by Govt. by involving different institutions viz Health, Educational institutions, PRIs, Anganwadi functionaries, and other stakeholders, by organizing awareness campaign at grassroots level. Effective involvement of educational institutions like colleges, senior secondary schools, and vocational institutes etc. has been emphasized in order to educate the students regarding democratic electoral practices and participation. The SVEEP Activities are being undertaken in Two Phases:- 1. Pre-poll phase (registration of voters). 2. Poll phase (turn out of voters to cast their vote). Thrust Areas:- 1. To increase the women enrollment and turnout thereby removing the gender gap. Anganwadi Workers, ASHA workers, and Women Colleges have been identified to carry out the SVEEP activities 2. Enrollment of electors of all age group including new voters. 3. Error free electoral rolls to conduct the free and fair elections. 4. Inclusion of all eligible voters in electoral roll. 5. Increase in postal ballot voting by facilitation and educating service voters and employees including security forces Highlights A Committee headed by Additional District Development Commissioner, Samba comprising of Senior Officers has been constituted for implementation of the SVEEP Program to aware the electors for registration/participation in the Electoral Process. Special Camps have been organised in the Govt./Private Colleges Higher Secondary

Schools. Besides, the employees of Health Department especially the ASHA Workers, Anganwari Workers of Social Welfare Department, VLWs & GRSs of Rural Development Department and Patwaries of Revenue Department have also been roped in for making the public aware. The PRIs, Sarpanches, Panches have been involved in the programme for reaching out to the eligible voters. Special camps were also organised for enrollment/deletion/modification/ transposition on 03.08.2014 and 09.08.2014 at Polling station locations by the Booth Level Officers. The awareness camps, rallies, meetings, Melas, door to door campaigns and other measures are being taken to improve the ratio of PER, EPIC, registration of young voters, female voters and larger participation of people in the elections. Hoardings/Banners for awareness of voters have been displayed in premises of all Govt. Offices of public dealing. Pamphlets are being distributed to all eligible voters, youth and general public. Under continuous updation, Form 6, 7, 8 & 8A are being provided to voters. As a consequence of sustained SVEEP activities in the pre poll phase (Voter Registration), 10629 number of new registrations (Form 6) have been received. ELECTORAL PROFILE OF DISTRICT SAMBA 1. Samba district comprises of two Assembly Constituencies i.e 68- Samba, 69- Vijaypur and part 67- Hiranagar. 2. Census Gender Ratio of the District (as per 2011 census) is 882. 3. District EP Ratio as per 2011 census is 63.90. 4. District Gender ratio as per current roll is 930. 5. District EP Ratio as per current rolls 65.89. 6. PER coverage: - 95.82. 7. EPIC coverage :- 91.57

LOK SABHA ELECTIONS-2014:- NAME OF ASSEMBLY MALE FEMALE TOTAL CONSTITUENCY 68-A SAMBA 41775 37923 79699 69-VIJAYPUR 53737 50956 104693 67-HIRNAGAR (PARTIALLY) 16417 14701 31118 111929 103580 215510 DETAIL OF POLLING STATIONS:- NAME OF AC POLLING STATION CREATION OF NEW TOTAL POLLING (OLD) POLLING STATION STATION 68-A SAMBA 119 9 128 69-HIRNAGAR 127 4 131 67-HIRNAGAR (PARTIALLY) 42 1 43 TOTAL POLLING STATION 288 (Lok Sabha) 14 302 Comparative Statement of Votes Polled in Terms of Male & Female Voters during Parliamentary Elections 2014 & Assembly Elections 2008 Constituency Total Votes Votes Polled %age of Votes Polled Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Parliamentary Elections 2014 68-Samba 41755 37924 79679 30869 28102 58971 73.93 74.10 74.01 69-Vijaypur 53737 50956 104693 40617 39166 79783 75.58 76.86 76.21 Assembly Elections 2008 68-Samba 37485 35394 72879 27705 25993 53698 73.91 73.44 73.68 69-Vijaypur 47412 46814 94226 38553 38559 77112 81.31 82.37 81.84

A. PRE-POLL PHASE (REGISTRATION OF VOTERS) ACTIVITIES ORGANISED UNDER SVEEP PROGRAMME FOR REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. S.NO DATE ACTIVITY Name of the venue/ resource person 1 09-07-2014 Awareness regarding Booth level officers of 68- special summary Samba, 69- Vijaypur, 67 TO revision Hiranagar REMARKS All polling stations covered 11-07-2014 2 Organizing public 16-07-2014 awareness camps 3 22-07-2014 Awareness of voter through meeting with TO local people, sarpanches, panches 24-07-2014 4 01-08-2014 Awareness regarding postal ballot 5 04.08.14 Interactive Session with the students Tehsildar Samba and -- Vijaypur Naib tehsildar -- ADDC /ADC Govt. Degree college Samba and Bhargava Degree College. Officers of Civil and police administration participated ADDC /ACR Samba also interacted with the students. Resource persons from Election Cell were deputed to these Colleges 6 06.08. 14 Rally Joint rally by GDC, Samba and Bhargava Degree College, Samba Different forms viz. Form 6, 7, 8, 8A were circulated among the new voters (students) Mass rally was organized in which hundreds of students participated 7 11.08.14 Awareness/ Interactive Session RK Degree College, Vijaypur Tehsildar Vijaypur was the resource person Different forms viz. Form 6, 7, 8, 8A were circulated among the new voters (students)

SVEEP Activities in District Samba for the week 04-08-14 to 10-08-14:- 31 st July, 2014 (Thursday) The interaction/training of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) was conducted by the Deputy Commissioner, Samba, Sh. Mubarak Singh in the Conference Hall of DDC office complex in two sessions- one each for the BLOs of AC Samba and AC-Vijaypur. They were asked to carry out the SVEEP activities of pre poll phase viz, Registration, transposition, correction and deletion of voters. Moreover, they were asked to remain stationed at their respective polling booths on 3 rd and 8 th of August, as per the directions of Election Commission of India (ECI). 4 th of August, 2014- (Monday) As decided by the SVEEP Implementation Committee, Interactive sessions were held in Govt. Degree College Samba and Bhargava Degree College Samba, wherein the students were sensitized/made aware of their voting rights. Mrs. Vivek Sharma, ADDC and Mr. M.Y.Malik, ACR personally visited Bhargava Degree College. The experts/ resource persons were deputed to both the colleges to reply to queries of new prospective voters who were also provided various types of Forms as well as BLOs contact numbers for getting registered as voters. Bhargava Degree College, Samba Govt. Degree College Samba

6 th of August, 2014 (Wednesday) Kisan Mela was organized in the far flung Block- Purmandal of the District on 6 th of August, 2014. A prominent stall of SVEEP was set up in the Mela displaying various types of Forms required for new registration, deletion, correction and disposition of voters and pamphlets for awareness. 7 th of August, 2014- (Thursday) A big rally was organized by the SVEEP team headed by ADDC Samba, by collaborating with Govt. Degree College Samba and Bhargava Degree College, Samba with the theme- REGISTRATION OF NEW VOTERS. Hundreds of students from both the Degree colleges enthusiastically participated in the rally. The rally was flagged off by Sh. Mubarak Singh, KAS, Deputy Commissioner, Samba. The rally passed through various streets and lanes of Samba town. The rally was a huge success in terms of making people aware regarding new registration of voters.

9 th of August, 2014- (Saturday) To educate the Anganwadi Workers about the registration of new voters and voting Rights, two camps were held at block headquarters of ICDS Project Samba and Vijaypur. ADDC Samba, Mrs. Vivek Sharma, KAS and GM, DIC Mr. Satish Sharma, KAS personally visited the venue along with CDPO Samba and made anganwadi workers aware regarding the new registration of voters and electoral process. They were also provided the contact numbers of BLOs of their respective areas. More than 300 workers participated in these events.

SVEEP Activities in District Samba for the week 11-08-14 to 16-08-14 11 th of August, 2014 - (Monday) ASHA workers were made aware about the registration of new voters and voting rights at the office of Block Medical Officer, Ramgarh, where more than 100 ASHA workers of medical block Vijaypur and Ramgarh participated. Besides BMO Ramgarh, Tehsildar Ramgarh was expert and resource person in the event. 12 th of August, 2014-(Tuesday) SVEEP awareness programme was organized at Higher Secondary School Ramgarh, in which more than 300 students participated. Tehsildar, Vijaypur, Block Medical Officer, Ramgarh and Chief Education Officer, Samba were part of awareness activities. The awareness programme was followed by a rally in which hundreds of students participated. 13 th of August, 2014- (Wednesday) Awareness programme on SVEEP was organized by Assistant Director, Employment at village Pangdour, Samba. Besides the experts of Election Cell and BLOs, Mr. Vikas Gupta, PO IWMP and Mr. Satish Sharma GM DIC educated the general public about the voter registration. More than 150 people participated.

PHASE II TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES/EVENTS TO BE ORGANISED IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER UNDER SVEEP PROGRAMME:- S.N O. DATE ACTIVITY NAME OF THE INSTITUTION/ 01. 04-09-2014 TO 06-09-2014 02. 09-09-2014 TO VOTERS AWARENESS PROGRAMME AT BLOCK LEVEL AWARENESS PROGRAMME TEHSIL LEVEL AT 12-09-2014 03. 16.09.14 MEETING WITH AMBASSADORS/NODA L OFFICERS OF COLLEGES RESOURCE PERSON BLOCK DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS TEHSILDARS/ NAIB TEHSILDARS OFFICE OF ADDC, SAMBA REMARKS THE BLOCK DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS WILL ORGANISE AWARENESS PROGRAMME /EVM TRAINING AT BLOCK LEVEL INVOLVING SARPANCHES AND PANCHES. THE TEHSILDARS WILL ORGANISE SIMILAR AWARENESS PROGRAMME /EVM TRAINING AT TEHSIL LEVEL INVOLING NUMBERDARS/CHOWKIDAR. MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS TO CAST THEIR VOTES AND TO AWARE THEIR FAMILIES

04. 3 RD AND 4 TH WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 05. 4 TH WEEK OF SEPTEMBER TEN POLLING STATIONS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED WHERE POLLING PERCENTAGE WAS LOW DURING THE LAST ASSEMBLY ELECTION (2008) AND PARLIMENTARY ELECTION (2014). AWARENESS REGARDING POSTAL BALLOT AND EVM OF:- 01. POLICE PERSONNEL BOOTH LEVEL OFFICERS WITH NAIB TEHSILDAR SVEEP COMMTTEE/ NODAL OFFICER, POLICE 1. TEHSILDARS OF CONCERNED TEHSIL WILL MONITOR. 2. SPECIAL CAMPS/ AWARENESS PROGRAMME WILL BE ORGANISED AT THESE IDENTIFIED POLLING STATIONS PREFERABLY IN DPL 02. DISTRICT OFFICERS SVEEP COMMTTEE CONFERENCE HALL 03. MEDIA PERSONNEL DISTRICT INFORMATION OFFICER, SAMBA SHALL COORDINATE THE EVENT CONFERENCE HALL 06. 4 th WEEK of September AWARENESS PROGRAMME TRAINING ANGANWADI WORKERS EVM TO CHILD DEVELOPMENT PROJECT OFFICERS TO ENCOURAGE WOMEN VOTER PARTICIPATION

3 rd & 4 th of September, 2014:- The activities of SVEEP were innovatively dovetailed with the District Task Force Committees (TFCs) of PMEGP and J&K Self Employment Scheme. More than 200 candidates who appeared in these TFC meetings were made aware of their voting rights by the Deputy Commissioner, Samba Sh. Mubarak Singh and Additional DDC, Mrs. Vivek Sharma.