ECI New Initiative
The Election Commission of India is responsible for conducting elections. ECI has announced several new initiatives to hold a free and fair election as the Lok Sabha elections 2019 is at the door.
In the 2018 assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana the ECI made several changes in the electoral process and it resulted in more healthy and uniform election. Voter Facilitation Centres have been activated in all the districts. Special campaign has been undertaken on EVM (Electronic Voting Machine)& VVPAT(Voter verified paper audit trail) awareness.
Camps are being organised to give hands-on experience to people on EVM and VVPAT especially to familiarize them on the use of VVPAT for verifying their vote. Awareness film on EVM and VVPAT has been developed and widely disseminated through Cinemas, Cable TV and Social Media including. With focus on 'Accessible Elections', special initiatives have been rolled out to facilitate persons with disabilities. Besides making awareness material accessible, extending EPIC in Braille for blind electors, sensitization of polling officials and making polling station accessible, electors with disabilities are being mapped Polling Station wise so that requisite facilitation can be extended on poll day.
The Election Commission has also directed to issue Accessible Photo Voter Slips with Braille Features to persons with visual Impairment or blind.Electoral Literacy Clubs launched few months back are proving to be vibrant platforms for disseminating information on the electoral process.Information on NOTA is also being disseminated. Students are supporting ECI SVEEP initiatives by participating in large numbers in painting competitions, sports activities and similar events being organised by the election officials. Mobilisation activities are being taken up across the states covering all polling stations to motivate people toward electoral participation. Information regarding dates and identity documents at polling station are disseminated besides promoting ethical and informed participation.
The Chief Election Commissioner of India Shri. Sunil Arora presented the inaugural issue of the new magazine of ECI, titled “My Vote Matters” to the President on this occasion. The President noted that the ECI magazine is most appropriately titled “My Vote Matters” as every single Vote counts equally in the formation of a government. The bi-lingual quarterly of the Commission hosts interesting and informative articles on many core subjects, new initiatives and topics of concurrent interest in elections, electoral processes and practices with the objective of developing a larger connect and interface with all the Stakeholders. cVIGIL initiative that provides even time stamping as credible proof of complaints filed against violations of model code of conduct and expenditure, by empowering every citizen to click mere photo or video using a simple Smartphone.