Gujarat Polls: A personalised invitation card for voters in Surat from EC

In an effort to improve the voting percentage in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, Chief Electoral Officer of Surat, Mahendra Patel, has undertaken a unique initiative of sending personalised invitation card to the voters.

"We thought this election is such a huge occasion for democracy, so why not send an invitation to the voters for the same, and hence on behalf of ECI, we would send an invitation cards to each family in Surat," Patel told ANI.

"On the other side of the invitation card, we have inducted the information related to VVPATs, so that the people are aware of its functioning," he added.

When asked on how he plans to send the invitation cards to the families, Patel said, "The Booth Level Officer, while delivering the voting slip, would also deliver the invitation letter addressed to the head of family".

Patel further stated that the Election Commision of India has given slogan of 'No voter to be left behind', so representatives of the commision went to different places for the registration process.

"Around one lakh thirty thousand new voters were registered during this drive and out of that one lakh thirteen thousand will be voting for the first time," he he said, adding, "

We have been using different mediums such as radio, TV and we also have a chariots for creating awareness about election and VVPATs."

Patel continued saying that the EC plans to better the record of voter turnout and expect it to cross 80 percent.

When asked on the expenses the ECI would incur in the entire process, he said, "We will be spend around Rs. 35,000 to 40,000 per booth".

On that note, the elections in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14.

The counting of the votes will be held on December 18.