Komal Dhamala, executive director of Electoral Education and Information Center (EEIC) at the Election Commission (EC), said the commission will get voter education materials from various publishers by Tuesday. [break]
“Amendment to the constitution paved the way for EC to print voter education materials,” Dhamala added. The commission has been publishing brochures, pamphlets, handbooks, volunteer guiding books, flip charts and posters, among other materials.
EC had been waiting for the government´s decision on the size of CA before printing voter education materials. President Ram Baran Yadav on Tuesday had endorsed an ordinance forwarded by the government to increase the number of CA seats to 601, amending his previous 25-point ordinance that fixed the CA size at 491 seats.
According to Dhamala, EC has already started mobilizing volunteers for voter education from Friday. Altogether, 15,000 volunteers will be mobilized for voter education, said Dhamala.
The volunteers will educate the people about various aspects of the CA elections and conduct mock polls.
EC has said that the voter education program would be different from that of the 2008 CA election since technology has advanced over the years. The commission has already decided to use glue digital display, sign boards, SMS and social networks for voter education. These were not used during the last CA election.
According to EC officials, the constitutional body will carry out voter education in about 17 major languages.EC will conduct a two-day master training on vote counting from September 27 and a week-long regional training from October 2. “Those who participate in the regional training will train polling officers and assistant officers,” Dhamala added.
Related story
Printing of ballot papers, voter ID cards completed: EC
