Role of voters is most important in democracy: State Election Commissioner

Raipur 25 January

The most important role in democracy is that of the voters. The more voters participate in the election, the stronger the democracy will be. The purpose of organizing Voter’s Day is to inspire voters to vote. State Election Commission Election Commissioner Shri Ajay Kumar Singh said this while addressing the National Voters’ Day program organized at the Vivekananda Auditorium of Indira Gandhi Agricultural University Raipur on the occasion of National Voters’ Day today. State Election Commissioner Shri Ajay Kumar Singh said that many provisions have been made in the constitution of our country for fair elections. He said that the Election Commission was established on this day itself for transparent and strong elections. The State Election Commissioner said that India is the largest democratic country. Elections are held here on such a large scale, perhaps not in any other country. Despite this, election work is completed soon within a stipulated time and election results also come. In spite of various challenges in Chhattisgarh, our administrative staff deserves congratulations for the way elections are conducted successfully. He said that earlier voter registration used to be manual. Now it has become much easier. He also gave detailed information about the urban body and panchayat elections under the State Election Commission.
Chief Electoral Officer Smt. Reena Babasaheb Kangale, while giving best wishes for National Voters’ Day, said that it is a matter of pride that awareness among women voters towards elections has increased. In the previous Lok Sabha elections, where the number of women was less than that of men, in this Lok Sabha election, 1024 women voters exercised their franchise compared to 1000 men. She said that the role of front line workers has been important in the successful elections held in Chhattisgarh. She said that Chhattisgarh has been given the award of the best performing state in the country for election management. Our administrative staff has made an important contribution to this. She said that it is a matter of pride for all of us to see an increase in the voting percentage in Chhattisgarh.
The special guest of the program, Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission President Sushri Rita Shandilya, while addressing the program, said that voting is both a right and a duty of a citizen. Through voting, we shape the future of our country and decide the direction of development. Therefore, all citizens should exercise their right to vote and contribute to the overall development of the country. National Voters’ Day reminds us that every voter’s vote is important to strengthen democracy. Joint Chief Electoral Officer Shri P.S. Dhruv also addressed the program.
All the people present on the occasion of Voter’s Day were administered the voter’s oath. New voters, service voters, and officers-employees who made remarkable contributions in election works were honored in the program. Raigarh Collector Shri Kartikey Goyal was awarded as the Best District Election Officer for conducting the highest 81.66 percent voting in the Lok Sabha election 2024 in the state, Durg Collector Sushri Richa Prakash Choudhary for increasing the voting percentage by 2.48 percent in the Lok Sabha election in 2024 compared to the previous Lok Sabha election despite being an urban area, Dantewada Collector Shri Mayank Chaturvedi for registering an increase of 10.39 percent in the Lok Sabha election 2024 compared to the previous Lok Sabha election despite being a highly Naxal-affected area. Raipur Collector Shri Gaurav Kumar Singh was honored for successfully conducting the training of polling parties during the Lok Sabha election 2024, Rajnandgaon District Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Sushri Suruchi Singh for organizing quality sweep activities and Mungeli District Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Shri Prabhakar Pandey was honored with a special award for sweep activities related to motivating migrant laborers to vote.
In the program, Shri U.S. Agarwal, Shri Pranav Singh, Pulak Bhattacharya, Shri Sunil Sharma, Smt. Geeta Diwan, Dr. K.R.R. Singh, Shri Ujjwal Porwal were awarded for the Outstanding National Level Master Trainer Award. Similarly, Shri Apurva Priyesh Toppo, Shri Vinay Agarwal, Shri Rupesh Kumar Verma, Smt. Sharda Agarwal, Shri Vinod Aglave, Shri Asim Thawait were awarded for the Excellent State Level Master Trainer. The officers awarded as the Excellent Deputy District Election Officer in the Lok Sabha Election-2024 include Raipur Deputy District Election Officer Shri Umashankar Bande, Sarguja Deputy District Election Officer Shri Sunil Nayak, Sukma Deputy District Election Officer Shri Gajendra Singh Thakur. For the Excellent Electoral Registration Officer Award, Smt. Indira Navani Singh from Rajnandgaon district of Durg division, Dr. Vibhor Agarwal from Dhamtari district of Raipur division, Shri Ankit Chauhan from Kondagaon district of Bastar division, Smt. Lalita Bhagat from Surajpur district of Sarguja division and Shri Bajrang Verma from Bilaspur district under Bilaspur division were honored. Similarly, 5 excellent Assistant Electoral Registration Officers were also honored division-wise. Election supervisors, 5 assistant programmers division-wise, 5 data entry operators, 8 booth level officers were honored for excellent performance of the voter list special summary revision program.