To enlighten electorates, EC to set up Voter Awareness Forums ahead of LS polls

The Election Commission of India (EC) announced on Monday announced that Voter Awareness Forums will be set up in ministries, government departments, non-government departments and other institutions to promote electoral awareness ahead of the general elections.

The Election Commission will be briefing the Nodal Officers of Ministries, Government of India and a representative from Federations on January 16 at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra here, read a statement.

Similar briefing sessions are being held across the country by the Chief Electoral Officers and District Election Officers on the same day where nodal officers of departments, non-government departments, CSOs, corporate and media houses in the state and district are being briefed respectively.

These are informal forums for generating awareness around electoral process through activities like discussions, quizzes, competitions and other engaging activities. All employees of the organisation are expected to become members of the VAF with the head of the organisation acting as Chair of VAF, which is a part of the Electoral Literacy Club (ELC) programme of EC.

Launched on the 8th National Voters Day, January 25 last year, ELC programme envisages setting up of Electoral Literacy Club in every educational institution and Chunav Pathshala at every booth to cover those outside the formal education system. Around 2.11 lakh ELCs have already been established across the country in the first year of the launch of the programme.

The ELCs and Chunav Pathshala activities are conducted by the convener using a resource guide where step by step instructions are given for conducting each activity. Separate resource books have been developed for Class IX, X, XI and XII. A calendar of activities in a year has also been indicated. Total of six to eight activities, with specific learning outcome, running into approximately four hours in all, have been identified for each class.