EC begins 2-day ‘special campaign’ for voters

As part of efforts in guiding young voters to register online, the Election Commission on Saturday began a two-day ‘Special Campaign’. This will also focus on new voter registration and corrections in the existing voter data.

Earlier during the morning hours, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj also flagged off 5K run (the curtain raiser of 12th edition of NMDC Hyderabad Marathon) as part of Hyderabad Marathon, the flagship event of Hyderabad Runners. He was accompanied by Chairman-cum-MD NMDC Ltd Amitava Mukherjee, IDFC FIRST Bank Country Head (Branch Banking) Amit Sinha and Race Director NMDC Hyderabad Marathon 2023, Prashant Morparia at the event held near Hitex at Madhapur in City.

The CEO urged participants to enrol as voters, prioritising voting in elections. Emphasising that elections were the biggest festival of Democracy, he urged for the active participation of voters in the election process for a healthy and vibrant democracy. “Urban voter apathy is a cause of concern and we are seeing the polling percentage declining in urban and youth populations over a period of time,” he pointed out.

The main event in which the Election Commission has partnered, (the Running Festival) will be held on Sunday. Full and half Marathons will be flagged off at 4.30 am and 5.30 am respectively at People’s Plaza, Necklace Road. The 10K Run will also be flagged off at 6.30 am at Hitex, Madhapur.

According to Marathon organisers, an increased number of participants were showing interest in the event. In this year’s event more than 21,000 from almost 30 states and UTs as well as from across the globe were participating. Out of this number, 5000 are women. 500 from 14 NGOs are also participating. It is going to be the Green Marathon. 250 volunteers are pressed into the service for the purpose of keeping it green as well as for recycling.

SVEEP (Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation program) nodal officer Bhavani Sankar informed that several outreach activities were being taken up by CEO, Telangana for enrolment and improving poll percentage. These include campus enrolment drives in all Degree, Engineering and other professional colleges, where the BLOs will be available in their respective Polling Stations during this Special campaign to provide all voter related services.