Gist of National Voters' Day Notes | Study Gist of Rajya Sabha TV / RSTV (now Sansad TV) - UPSC

The Big Picture: National Voters' Day
Context
Recently, National Voters' Day celebrated all across the country on January 25.
Background

• It is being celebrated every year since 2011, to mark the foundation day of the Election Commission of India, i.e. 25th January 1950.
• President virtually graced and addressed the 11th National Voters’ Day Celebrations, organised by the Election Commission of India.
• During the event, the President conferred the National Awards for the year 2020-21 and also launched the Election Commission of India’s Web Radio: ‘Hello Voters’ – an online digital radio service.

Summary Of The Debate
Significance of National Voters Day

• The Day is celebrated since 2011 to mark the Foundation day of Election Commission of India, which was established on 25th January 1950.
• It sets the tone for year-long activities focusing on voter education and renewal of citizens’ faith in the electoral process.
• The main purpose behind the day was to engage the younger generation which has crossed 18 but is reluctant to be a part of the nation building process.
• The engagement of youth was considerably low in beginning of the last decade than what it is now. National Voters Day celebration is to encourage, facilitate and maximize enrolment, especially for new voters.
• It is a festival in order to inform the youth that it is their turn to be an active part of the electoral process and to get the eligible voters out of their homes so that they can exercise what is their basic right.
• The theme for this year's National Voters' Day is ‘Making our voters empowered, vigilant, safe and informed.’ This year ECI would have a bigger challenge ahead of them as due to Covid 19, people would be reluctant to come out and vote.

Initiatives by Election Commission to Empower Democracy

• Cvigil: cVIGIL enable citizens to report the model code of conduct violations such as bribery, free gift, liquor distribution, playing loudspeakers beyond the permissible time during the elections.
• Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS): It was to help the applicants keep a track of their applications for the party registration from this year onwards. The salient feature in the PPRTMS is that the applicant, who is applying for party registration from January 1, 2020, will be able to track the progress of his or her application and will get the status update through SMS and e-mail,".
• Electronic versions of the Electors Photo Identity Cards (e-EPICs): e-EPIC is a non-editable secure portable document format (PDF) version of the EPIC and will have a secured QR code with image and demographics like serial number, part number, etc. E-EPIC can be downloaded on a mobile or a computer and can be digitally stored. This is in addition to physical IDs being issued for fresh registration.
• SVEEP: SVEEP’s primary goal is to build a truly participative democracy in India by encouraging all eligible citizens to vote and make an informed decision during the elections. The programme is based on multiple general as well as targeted interventions which are designed according to the socio-economic, cultural and demographic profile of the state as well as the history of electoral participation in previous rounds of elections and learning thereof.

Empowering Voters

• Create voter information guides to provide them the information they need to register and cast their ballots.
• People have confusion about the EVMs, election commission needs to give more creative examples/solutions to solve this issue.
• More awareness programs need to start by E.C.I to attract the attention of new and young voters.
• Solve the problems of voters like registration problems, poll closures and long lines, malfunctioning voting equipment, and other voter confusion.
• People should also need to take action by registering voters and getting out the vote.

Conclusion
Citizens should take pledge to go out and cast their vote each and every time when they need to do so. The process of voting has evolved and has changed with the times over the years right from 1950’s to 2021. The E.C.I has ensured that it has brought out brand ambassadors, encourages people to vote and started several schemes and reforms. New challenges have been addressed from time to time and the process itself has been learning and change has taken place whenever there was need for it. Election commission, citizens of country and political parties need to come together to ensure that we keep the spirit of our vibrant democracy alive.

About Election Commission of India

• It is a Constitutional Body created under Article 324 of the Constitution of India.
• The first Chief Election Commissioner was appointed on 21st March 1950. Since its creation, the Commission was a single member body except for a brief period from 16th October 1989 to 1st January 1990 when it was converted into a three member body.
• Subsequently, since 1st October 1993, the Commission has been a three-member body, consisting of the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.
• Since independence, our Constitution has given equal voting rights to all citizens without any discrimination on the basis of merit, religion, race and caste.