SAS Nagar, January 25, 2025: Mohali Administration today celebrated the 15th National Voters' Day at Shivalik Public School, Phase 6. Earlier, SDM Damandeep Kaur flagged off a cycle rally from School of Eminence, Phase 3B1, Mohali to Shivalik Public School to create awareness among the youth about becoming voters.
Addressing the youth and others in the school auditorium, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Ashika Jain made the people present aware of the importance of vote and called upon them to become voters if they attain the age of 18 years on January 1, 2025. She said that our country is known as the largest democracy in the world and the day we are celebrating today is known as the foundation day of the Election Commission of India, which came into existence in 1950, a day before Republic Day.
He said that today we have enrolled about 99.1 crore Indians as voters and soon we will cross the figure of 100 crore voters, which will be a proud moment even for the world's largest democracy. Calling upon everyone to take responsibility as voters, he said that one vote decides the future of a democratic country. The more votes are cast, the more our contribution will strengthen our right to choose right and wrong.
He said that National Voters' Day which was started to be celebrated from 2011 aims to make voters, especially the youth, aware to be a part of democracy by enrolling as voters and then exercising their right to choose a strong government to run the nation or state. He said that any person of the age of 18 years and above can easily enroll himself as a voter by calling 1950 or by logging on to the National Voter Service Portal or by downloading the Voter Helpline App on mobile phones.
A video message of Chief Election Commissioner of India, Shri Rajiv Kumar was also played during the event. On the occasion, best performers were also felicitated which included SDM Derabassi, Amit Gupta (SDM Mohali received the award on his behalf), Booth Level Officer Sunita Rana of Booth No. 9, Derabassi and Dr. Ravinder Singh, Lecturer, Government Polytechnic, Khooni Mazra for enrolling maximum number of young voters as Nodal Officer for the campus.
Besides, District Icons Poonam Lal and Gurpreet Singh Namdhari, District Sweep Nodal Officer Prof. Gurbakshish Singh Antal, District Lead Bank (PNB) Manager MK Bhardwaj, District Education Officer Dr. Ginni Duggal, Principal Shivalik School Dr. Anoop Kiran, Election Tehsildar Sanjay Kumar were also felicitated at the function. To make the event colourful, Gidda by Government Girls Senior Secondary School Sohana, Bhangra by Swami Ram Tirath Public School Mohali, Choreography by BSH Arya School Mohali and group songs, poetry, speech and street plays on the importance of vote were also part of the National Voters Day.
An exhibition based on slogan writing and poster making competition also showcased the ideas and concepts of the future voters about democracy. Rehmat, Kumari Deepakshi and Mannat Sharma (all from Shivalik Public School) and the winners of the speech competition Manpreet, Isha Bedi and Anita Rani (all from Government College Phase 6) were also felicitated with medals and certificates.
The staff of the election office and other employees who worked hard for election related works were also felicitated with appreciation certificates. The audience was also administered an oath by the Deputy Commissioner to exercise their franchise as a responsible citizen.