Manipur launches awareness initiative to achieve 100% voter turnout

Imphal: A Signature Campaign on Electoral Participation was launched by the Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur Pradeep Kumar Jha, aimed at targeting all electors particularly the youth to cast their votes on Poll Day in a free, fair, peaceful manner and without any inducement or fear from any external factor on Friday.

As a part of the programme, various creatives/explainer videos on applications like C-Vigil, 1950 (toll-free no.), Know Your Candidate (KYC), Saksham, Voter Helpline, etc. have been popularised through multiple media platforms to promote ethical, informed, inclusive and accessible voting.

Large hoardings and posters with information on empowering voters have been installed at all strategic locations across the State.

TV/Radio talks, jingles, etc. have been taken up in a big way in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

Awareness programmes on the opportunity to cast votes by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have also been taken up at all relief camps.

The first Randomisation of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM)/Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) were completed on March 23, 2024, in all districts.

The second randomization was carried out on April 5, 2024, by the respective Returning Officers in the presence of the General Observer and the contesting candidates/their authorized agents.

Commissioning of the EVM/VVPATs has commenced in all districts from Friday and 64 engineers from Electronics Corporation of India Ltd have arrived and they have been allocated across all districts for the purpose.

All the contesting candidates have been duly informed of their presence during the second and third randomization.

One round of training of polling personnel has been completed and the second round of training after the second randomization of polling personnel is in progress.

A total of three General Observers, two Police Observers, and four Expenditure Observers, appointed by the Election Commission of India, have arrived to oversee the preparation, and conduct of Lok Sabha Election-2024.

Manipur with its two Parliamentary constituencies — Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat reserved for scheduled tribes and Inner Manipur LS will go to the polls on April 19 and 26. A total of 10 candidates — four in the Outer seat and six in the Inner seat are vying for the elections.