STATE TIMES NEWS
KATHUA: Seventh National Voters’ Day was celebrated in Govt. Degree College Kathua to encourage the participation of young voters in the electoral process. A colourful function was organised in which students from different colleges and higher secondary schools put forth various cultural items. A symposium on Electoral Reforms was also organised in which five students share their views.
Deputy Distt. Election Officer Chand Kishor Sharma welcomed the young and future voters and other dignitaries. The Distt. Election Officer Ramesh Kumar in his address exhorted upon the non enrolled youth to register their names in the electoral roll and become a part of Indian democracy. New Voter ID-Card were also handed over to the newly enrolled young voters.
Earlier a rally was flagged off by the Distt. Election Officer Kathua in which hundred students took part with zeal and enthusiasm. NVD pledge was also administered to the participants. Among others SSP Kathua Pawan Parihar , Addl. DC Dr Bharat Bhushan and other Distt Officers attended the NVD function.
AKHNOOR: National Voters Day 2017 was celebrated in Assembly constituency Akhnoor on Wednesday at GHSS(B) Akhnoor. Number of newly enrolled voters were present in the function. Electoral Registration Officer, Sunaina Sharma (SDM Akhnoor) presented EPIC cards to the young voters. Speaking over the occasion, she said that the youths are the backbone of our nation and the participation of youths in democracy is very necessary and appealed to the youth of AC 79 to enroll themselves in the voter lists. She further said that objective of National Voters Day is to increase enrollment of voters so as to make universal adult franchise a complete reality and thereby enhancing the quality of Indian democracy. She also explained the different activities completed under SVEEP in A C-79, Akhnoor. Prizes to the winners of painting competition and debate competition were also given.
AERO, AC-79, (Tehsildar Akhnoor), Naib Tehsildar Sohal, Dy.CEO Akhnoor, ZEO Akhnoor, Principal GHSS(B) and Principal GHSS(G) Akhnoor were also present in the function.
NOWSHERA: Like other parts of the State, Seventh National Voters Day was celebrated in Nowshera to spread awareness amongst the general public about their most important right-the right to vote, with a view to ensure their larger participation in the electoral process.
While addressing a function at Sub Division Headquarters, SDM Nowshera and Tehsildar Nowshera highlighted the importance of the day and said that objective of the day was to aware general masses to increase the enrollment of voters so that maximum number of voters could participate in the electoral process.
The SDM Nowshera Harbans Lal sharma, in his address, laid stress on the value of their vote and said that voters who are backbone of democracy should exercise their right to vote in all the elections, i.e Parliament, State Assembly or Panchayat and local bodies’ elections.
A pledge was administered to the voters by the AERO, Nowshera Mohd Raiyaz to uphold the dignity of elections and vote in the elections without any fear, inducement or influence.
RAMBAN: The main function of the Seventh National Voters’ Day in Ramban District was organised by the District administration, Ramban at Maitra.
Marking the day as the foundation day of the Election Commission of India, the theme of this year’s National Voters’ Day(NVD) was ‘Empowering Youth and Future Voters’.
At the onset of the celebration many a new young voters were handed over their new Voter Identity Cards by the Chief Guest ,Additional Deputy Commissioner(ADC),Ramban, Angrez Singh Rana in presence of Tehsildar, Ramban, Gurpreet Singh ,Principal, Government Higher Secondary School, Ramban, Ashok Sharma, Election Naib-Tehsildar, Hasham Din, many a teachers and students.
The ADC, also gave a prize of Rs.100 each to a boy and a girl for answering the right questions during a brief quiz related to the Indian Constitution held on the occasion.
Meanwhile, the NVD was also celebrated at Batote under the chairmanship of Tehsildar,Srinath Suman wherein as many as 800 new voters were given their new Voter Identity Cards besides holding an oath prominently in presence of Naib-Tehsildar,Saifullah Shah and senior local officers, prominent citizens, leaders, teachers and students.
UDHAMPUR: The Seventh National Voters day was today celebrated with great zeal and enthusiasm at Udhampur. Various awareness programmes were organised by the District Election cell under the theme ‘Empowering Young and Future Voters’ all over the district on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, District Election Officer Niraj Kumar said that the main objective of celebrating this day is to strengthen our democratic system by creating awareness among the young and future voters about the importance of their vote and hence involving their greater participation in the whole electoral system. He said that a large number of awareness programmes have been organised under SVEEP and the celebration of National Voters’ Day is also one of the initiatives taken by the ECI under this programme.
Chief Planning Officer , Rakesh Jamwal, ACR Subhash Chander Dogra, CMO Dr. Chander Prakash, CEO Bishan Singh, DSWO Rachna Sharma , principals of various schools, teachers and a large number of students were also present on the occasion.
At Ramnagar, a debate competition was held on the occasion of 7th National Voters Day in which students of various educational institutions participated and expressed their views on the importance of the day. The students also threw light on various types of forms like Form 6, Form 7, Form 8(A) etc. Tehsidar , Ramnagar Romesh Singh was the Chief Guest in the debate competition.
Later, the Chief Guest also felicitated the winners of the competition.
Among others, various Block Level Officers ,Principals of Government Schools, Teachers and a large number of students attended the programme
THANNAMANDI: Voter’s Day was celebrated is GDC Thannamandi on Wednesday in which Principal of the College Dr. Shakeel Ahmed Raina was the Chief Guest who advised the students to actively participate in the electoral process and get their names registered in the voters list, if not yet.
Dr. Abbas Wani HoD Pol. Science who was Resource Person on this occasion spoke at length on the topic. Earlier the programme started with the citation of few verses of Holy Quran by Mr. Khalid a student of the college. Prof. Saleem Ayaz Rather HOD Zoology presented the welcome address and Dr. Umar Farooq HoD Botany presented the formal vote of thanks. A large no of students and the staff were present on the occasion. The programme was conducted by Ashfaq Ahmed Lecture History. Mohd Latief and Shafqat Qazi assisted the programme.
BILLAWAR: Govt. Degree College, Billawar in collaboration with Sub Division Administration, Billawar celebrated the National Voters’ Day in the premises of Govt Degree College, Billawar. The celebration started with the assembly of students taking National Voters’ Day pledge and distribution of EPIC card to the newly enrolled young voters. Later a symposium was organiSed on the topic Right to Vote as the Root of Democracy. Rajesh Basotra, SDM Billawar was the Chief Guest on the occasion and the function was presided over by Suresh Kumar Sharma, Principal of GDC Billawar. In all, eight students from GDC Billawar participated in the symposium. Their performances were adjudged by the jury comprising Prof Amit Kumar Sharma , Lecturer Mukesh Kumari, Assistant Lecturer Rupali Gupta on the bases of Content, Presentation and Pronunciation. Mohd Bilal , Sem IV was adjudged as the best speaker while the second and third positions were secured by Shivani of Sem II and Arti of Sem-IV respectively.
At RAJOURI the main function was chaired by Advisory Board for the Development of Pahari Speaking People Kuldeep Raj Gupta.
District Election Officer Shabir Ahmed Bhat, senior officers of various departments, representatives of various political parties and prominent citizens were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice chairman appealed the people to participate in the electoral process, by enrolling themselves and exercise their franchise to strengthen the democratic system.
District Election Officer administered National Voters Day pledge to the participants and distributed EPICs among the new enrolled voters
Similar functions were held at all the Subdivisions; tehsil and Booth level where AERO administered pledge and distributed EPICs among the newly enrolled voters.
Himalayan Degree College Rajouri celebrated National Voter’s Day in the multipurpose hall of the College in which a sizeable number of students alongwith college staffers partook with great zeal and enthusiasm.
Prof Wasim Raja Malik and Prof Abdul Mabood gave speeches to the students and stated that it’s a fundamental right of every citizen of the country to vote and being conscious and responsible citizens of the greatest democracy of the world must actively participate in the selection of genuine leaders and representatives for both parliament and state assembly. Speaking on the occasion Principal of the college Dr. Ayub eulogised the vibrant and prolific democracy of India and reminded that on the same day in 1951 the Election Commission of India had come into existence and in 2011 on the same day National Voter’s Day was observed throughout the country. Event was then followed by a Pledge ceremony in which Teachers along with the students made promise that they will franchise their vote for the betterment of this geographically isolated, educationally backward and economically weaker, border hilly belt of Rajouri without any consideration of religion caste, creed, region and language. The event ended with a vote of thanks by Syed Mehran.
At KISHTWAR the main function was held at Government Boys Higher Secondary School where Additional Deputy Commissioner Kishori Lal distributed EPICs among the new voters and asked the participants to take part in democratic process in free and fair manner. He also awarded BLOs for their best performances in field.
Chief Education Officer, A H Fani, District Youth Services and sports officer Diwan Thakur, DSWO Phulail Singh, Tehsildar Irshad Butt, NT Election cell besides other officers were present on the occasion.
At DODA District Election officer Doda Mr Bhupinder Kumar distributed EPICs among the first time registered voters . While highlighting the significance of the day the DEO said that the day is observed to encourage young voters , who have reached the age of 18 to participate in the electoral process, by enrolling or registering themselves in electoral rolls and to exercise their franchise.
Later prizes were distributed among the winners of Painting competition organised on the said theme by Election cell Doda.
Momin Islahi of Shaheen Public HSS was awarded 1st prize whereas Iqra Balwan and Junaid bagged 2nd and 3rd prize respectively.
Besides BLOs were felicitated for carrying out purification of the electoral rolls.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Hanief Malik, CPO Yoginder Katoch, CEO Mohd Ashraf Rather, Tehsildar Nasir Ali, DRCS Anoop Kumar besides other district officers were present on the occasion.
At SAMBA the main function was held at Bhargava Degree College where the District Election Officer Sheetal Nanda administered National Voters Day Pledge to the participants and distributed EPIC’s among the new voters .
DDC while speaking on the occasion impressed upon the voters to ensure greater participation in the elections for strengthening the democracy in the country. DDC also felicitated booth level officers Qasim Ali, Ramesh Kumar,Sohanu Kumar and Vijay Kumar ,senior voters of the district, Shiv Ram aged 98 years and Madan Mohan aged 88. Prizes were also distributed among Trinayni Manyal , Chetan Sharma and Ankita Sharma who stood first , second and third in the Slogan writing competition.
Earlier a special enrollment drive was organised on 22nd January at all the polling booths of the district while ‘Interactive School Engagements sessions were also organized in various schools.
At REASI District Election Officer Ravinder Kumar administered the National Voters Day pledge and distributed EPIC’s among the new voters .
Speaking on the occasion, Kumar called upon the participants to spread awareness and educate the masses on the value and meaning of electoral enrolment and its role in strengthening the democracy. .
Additional Deputy Commissioner Babu Ram, ACR Abdul Satar, Deputy District Election Officer Surjeet Singh, officers of various other departments, BLOs, representative of political parties, students and local people were present on the occasion. Later, Deputy Commissioner also visited Government Degree College, Girl Higher Secondary School and some other institutions to inspect various events and activities including training sessions, paintings, mock poll drills held to mark the celebration of National Voter Day.
Whereas, Voters Day was also celebrated great enthusiasm in Tehsil Thakrakote, in which Tehsildar Rajesh Baru make the voters aware of their right and asserted in their massive participation in democratic process. Besides locals, Talwara migrants were also present on the occasion.
At POONCH the main function was held at Government Degree College which was attended by the District Election Officer, Mohammad Harun Malik, Assistant Commissioner Revenue Ashraf Chowdhury, ACD .Mohammad. Zabir Hussain Shah,ARTO Poonch Sh Jehangir Khan, besides other officers , prominent citizens and students.peaking on the occasion, the District Election Officer highlighted the importance of NVD celebrations to increase enrollment of voters, especially the new voters and to spread awareness among people.
