BHUBANESWAR: The electors’ photo identity cards (EPICs) will be distributed among the new voters from January 25 on the occasion of the National Voters’ Day. Announcing this here on Saturday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Sreenivasan said the process for distribution of the fresh EPICs would be completed by January 29. The day will be observed with an objective to increase the enrolment of voters by using the event to make universal adult franchise an achievable reality and thereby enhancing the quality of Indian democratic process, the CEO said.A mini-marathon will be flagged off from Kalinga Stadium to mark the occasion. Around 800 youths will participate in the marathon and the event is expected to create voters’ awareness, he said.Sreenivasan said on the day, 10,07,061 newly-registered voters in the age group of 18-25 would be given EPICs through 31,617 polling stations at 27,793 locations.He said the newly-registered voters in each polling booth in the latest revision would be felicitated on the National Voters’ Day at a brief ceremony at State, district and polling station levels. The aim is to inculcate a commitment to democratic electoral process in their mind and encourage them for a greater participation.Debate, painting, essay competitions and cycle rallies will be organised in the 18- 25 age group in association with civil society and academic institutions to create voters’ awareness with the underlying theme ‘Greater Participation for Stronger Democracy’.Stating that there has been a 3.9 per cent growth in the voters’ list, the CEO said during summary revision programmes, undertaken from October 1 to January 5, a total of 13,26,864 electors were enrolled while 2,56,558 were deleted from the rolls due to death, shifting and other reasons.As per the final rolls published, there are a total of 2,91,45,035 electors in the State, including 1,50,85,837 males and 1,40,58,672 females. There are 526 electors under other categories.Pointing out that 2,53,76,206 electors out of the total voters have been issued EPICs, he said the EPIC coverage has gone up to 90.91 per cent from 88.85 per cent in the 2011 roll. Similarly, in the electoral rolls, there are 2,64,95,502 electors with photos, he added.The CEO said a total of 4,13,144 electors have been enrolled in 18-19 age group thus raising the number of electors in this group from 0.73 per cent in the final rolls of 2011 to about 1.70 per cent of the total projected population.
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