EC may constitute award for best media campaign

New Delhi: The Election Commission is considering instituting a national award for the best media campaign for motivating voter awareness and participation in elections. Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said a jury consisting of eminent people like leading journalists and jurists could be set up to pick the media institution which had run the best campaign. [caption id=“attachment_191410” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Promising award for performance. PTI”] [/caption] He said in the last year 3.8 crore new voters have been enrolled of which 1.8 crores belong to the age group of 18 who have just become eligible. Quraishi said on the National Voters Day on 25 January there is a programme for voters and officials to take a pledge to strengthen the campaign. Booth-level officers in over 8 lakh polling station areas will felicitate the newly-registered voters in a brief ceremony and hand over photo identity cards to them, he said, adding that they will be given a badge with a slogan ‘Proud to be a Voter – Ready to Vote’. He said there has been a declining trend in voters participation over the decades which has been hovering around 55-60 percent in the past few elections. The commission has found gaps in terms of not only registration but also in participation in elections, he said and added that some media campaigns in the past using national icons have paid dividends. He also appealed to the media to involve themselves in the process so that people participation in elections goes up. PTI