Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa today visited the poll museum housed in the old St Stephen's College building here, which has attracted over 12,000 visitors from 80 institutions since it was opened for public in 2016, officials said.
The first-of-its-kind Election Education Centre-cum- Museum, christened 'A Journey through Elections', is located on the first floor of the office of Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, in the heritage building.
"Election Commissioner Lavasa launched a photo book commemorating one year of the museum," the CEO Office said in a statement.
The museum, that chronicles the country's historical electoral journey with artefacts, documents, photographs and film exhibits drawn from rare archives, was thrown open to the public on October 18, 2016.
Endowed with 200-odd exhibits with 100-120 rare photographs, drawn from several archives, the museum was inaugurated by the then Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, who had termed it as the "journey of the electoral democratic process of India".
Yesterday, a delegation of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Nigeria also visited the museum, officials said.
According to the CEO Office, "As on date, 12,048 visitors from 80 institutions have already visited the museum."
The exhibits include artefacts like the metal ballot box used in the first general elections in 1952, the one used in 1996, rare black and white images of elections through several decades after Independence, and samples of old election symbols.
Rare documents drawn from Delhi Archives, records of Election Commission of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Photo Division and Films Division archives, have also been put on display.
Visitors can also see a rare Films Division documentary -- "The Great Experiment" -- chronicling the events during the historic first general elections of India.
Among the rare pre-Independence era exhibits are the electoral roll of 1923, correspondences between police and poll officials in 1934 elections and Mahatma Gandhi's visit to St Stephen's College in 1915.
The museum has a separate section on the life of Gandhi and his struggle for Independence.
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