Hyderabad: Electoral Literacy Club initiative kicks off in Chandrayangutta

Chandrayangutta: Following the instructions of the Chief Electoral Officer, Rajat Kumar, the GHMC Circle-8 (Chandrayangutta) on Tuesday came up with its first 'Electoral Literacy Club' at RKS Mission high school in Shivaji Nagar at Uppugudda and also appointed one of its teachers as the nodal officer of club.

Speaking to The Hans India, N Venugopal, Deputy the Project Officer, said that this was first of its kind initiative in this part of the city where an Electoral Literacy Club was formed. The students of the school who are keen to learn about the electoral processes became active members of this Club. "This is the beginning of this kind of literacy clubs where students from high school and colleges will become part of this initiative.

This will continue to function on the lines of guidelines provided by Chief Electoral Officer and District Electoral Officer D S Lokesh Kumar. After the formation of similar clubs, the students will be regularly educated about the electoral process as part of the efforts to generate awareness amongst the youngsters who would later become voters after they attain 18 years of age," informed the officer.

He said that the GHMC will be coming with more such clubs in the coming days to ensure that the youth learn about the basics of electoral processes and are encouraged to not only become voters, but also take active part in the conduct of elections by roping in citizens to vote.

"The students were educated about VVPAT (Voter-verified paper audit trail) the NOTA (None of the Above) provision, where a voter has a choice to reject any of the listed parties and candidates in the poll fray. We also explained about Form 6 & 7 and electoral rolls and importance of identification cards, which can be submitted for obtaining Voter ID," he said.

The students of higher classes were also informed about the history of the Elections in India, electronic voting machine (EVM) etc. "A teacher from the school who was chosen as nodal officer would ensure that this club organises such awareness programmes in the institution. A maximum number of both private and government institutions will have such clubs in the coming days," he added.