CURATED BY – RAJIV KHARE | CITYCHIEFNEWS

Raipur, Voters play the most important role in democracy. The more voters participate in elections, the stronger democracy will be. The purpose of organizing Voter's Day is to motivate voters to vote. State Election Commission Election Commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh said this while addressing the National Voter's Day program organized in Vivekananda Auditorium of Indira Gandhi Agricultural University Raipur on the occasion of National Voter's Day today. State Election Commissioner 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 for transparent and strong elections. State Election Commissioner said that India is the largest democratic country. The elections conducted here on such a large scale may not be conducted in any other country. Despite that, election work is completed quickly in a fixed time and election results are also declared. Despite various challenges in Chhattisgarh, our administrative staff deserves congratulations for the way elections are conducted successfully. He said that earlier voter registration was done manually. Now it has become quite easy. He also gave detailed information about the urban body and panchayat elections under the State Election Commission.

Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale, while wishing National Voter's Day, said that it is a matter of pride that awareness among women voters has increased towards elections. 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. He said that the role of frontline workers has been important in the successful elections held in Chhattisgarh. He said that Chhattisgarh has been awarded the Best Performing State in the country for election management. Our administrative staff has an important contribution in this. He said that the increase in voting percentage in Chhattisgarh is a matter of pride for all of us.

Addressing the program, special guest of the program, Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission Chairperson Rita Shandilya said that voting is both a right and 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 franchise and contribute to the overall development of the country. National Voter's Day reminds us that the vote of every voter is important to strengthen democracy. Joint Chief Electoral Officer P S Dhruv also addressed the program.

Voter's oath was administered to all the people present on the occasion of Voter's Day. New voters, service voters and officers-employees who made a significant contribution in the election work were honored in the program. Raigarh Collector Kartikey Goyal was honored as the best district election officer for ensuring the highest voter turnout of 81.66 percent in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in the state, Durg Collector Richa Prakash Chaudhary was honored as the best district election officer for increasing the voting percentage in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by 2.48 percent as compared to the last Lok Sabha elections despite being an urban area, Dantewada Collector Mayank Chaturvedi was honored as the best district election officer for increasing the voting percentage by 10.39 percent in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 as compared to the last Lok Sabha elections despite being a highly Naxal-affected area. Raipur Collector Gaurav Kumar Singh was awarded a special award for excellent completion of training of polling parties during Lok Sabha Election 2024, Chief Executive Officer of Rajnandgaon District Panchayat Suruchi Singh for organizing quality SVEEP activities and District Panchayat Chief Executive Officer of Mungeli district Prabhakar Pandey for SVEEP activities related to motivating migrant laborers to vote.

In the program, US Agarwal, Pranav Singh, Pulak Bhattacharya, Sunil Sharma, Geeta Diwan, Dr. K.R.R Singh, Ujjwal Porwal were awarded for the Best National Level Master Trainer Award. Similarly, Apurv Priyesh Toppo, Vinay Agarwal, Rupesh Kumar Verma, Sharda Agarwal, Vinod Aglawe, Aseem Thawait were awarded for the best state level master trainer. The officers awarded as the best Deputy District Election Officer in Lok Sabha Election-2024 include Raipur Deputy District Election Officer Umashankar Bande, Surguja Deputy District Election Officer Sunil Nayak, Sukma Deputy District Election Officer Gajendra Singh Thakur. For the Best Electoral Registration Officer Award, Indira Navni Singh from Durg Division District Rajnandgaon, Dr. Vibhor Agarwal from Dhamtari District of Raipur Division, Ankit Chauhan from Kondagaon District of Bastar Division, Lalita Bhagat from Surajpur District of Surguja Division and Bajrang Verma from Bilaspur District under Bilaspur Division were honored division wise. Similarly, 5 best Assistant Electoral Registration Officers were also honored division wise. Election Supervisor, 5 Assistant Programmers, 5 Data Entry Operators, 8 Booth Level Officers were honored division wise for excellent execution of Special Summary Revision Program of Voter List.