New Delhi: With an aim to connect with grassroots-level voters both from rural and urban backgrounds, the Election Commission of India on Monday launched a yearlong Voter Awareness Program ‘Matdata Junction’ during an event organized in New Delhi.
Addressing the gathering, CEC Rajiv Kumar said that the program Matdata Junction, produced in collaboration with All India Radio, will be a strong platform to connect with voters across the country.
The program is a combination of information and entertainment, would specifically help address urban apathy and inform the audience about the election processes in the conduct of free, fair, transparent, inducement-free, accessible, and inclusive elections in an interactive communication format, CEC said in at the event, according to a press statement.
The dias was adorned by bigwigs like CEC Rajiv Kumar, EC Alok Pandey, and Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi along with several poll body senior officials, Prasar Bharati, and AIR top brass.
Pankaj Tripathi has been working for the poll body for the past few months and is the state icon of Bihar, where he hails from. Recalling his keeness to address the value of each vote at the grassroots, CEC said that the poll body seeing Pankaj Tripathi's keenness and dedication would now make him the national icon for the poll watchdog.
Sharing his childhood experiences, Pankaj Tripathi addressed the gathering and recalled his memories of becoming a first-time voter and how that process gave him not only the right of Matdan but also Samman as a contributory voice in democracy.
While appreciating the efforts made by ECI for reaching out to the voters, he urged all young voters to pro-actively participate in the elections to reflect their democratic choices and make their voices heard.
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Addressing the event, election commissioner Alok Pandey recalled that AIR has been enthusing the masses “as a legendary storyteller with its voice appeal and strengthening the democratic spirit”. Since the very first general elections, AIR with its extensive coverage and reach to diverse audiences, has been a primary medium of communication with citizens across the country, he stated.
The 15-minute program will be broadcast every Friday from 7 to 9 pm slot on the All India Radio network covering 25 FM stations, 4 FM Gold stations, 42 Vividh Bharati stations, and 159 primary channels/local radio stations in 23 languages, i.e., Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili, and Dogri.
The 52-episode series will cover various aspects of the election and related processes from voters’ perspectives. It will have thematic episodes on voter registration, Informed & Ethical Voting, Value of Vote, Inclusive & Accessible Elections, Model Code of Conduct, IT Applications, EVMs, stories of election officials, BLOs, etc.
