DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Agarwal stated that the initiation of the Lok Sabha general elections scheduled for May 25, 2024, in Haryana has commenced to ensure maximum participation of citizens.

Awareness special stickers have been pasted at ATMs and elevators to raise awareness and encourage more voters to participate. Apart from this, students are being motivated to visit polling stations with their parents and take selfies.

He emphasised the importance of every eligible voter exercising their right to vote, highlighting that in the Lok Sabha general elections 2019, Haryana witnessed nearly 70 percent voter turnout, higher than the national average. The aim this time is to achieve a minimum of 75 percent voter turnout in the state.

Agarwal stated the MoU has been signed between the Election Commission, the Indian Postal Department, and the Indian Banks Association to raise voter awareness.

The main objective is to convey to voters that their participation is crucial in democracy, hence every citizen should exercise their franchise.

He said that Haryana boasts a significant network of over 5600 branches across 62 banks. Just like how banks conduct KYC for their account holders, voters are encouraged to do their own KYC for their candidates. For this purpose, the Commission has prepared the 'Know Your Candidate' mobile app.

With the support of banks, posters, and stickers are being used to inspire citizens visiting banks and ATMs to vote. The Chief Electoral Officer said that there are more than 1 crore 99 lakh 95 thousand registered voters in Haryana. He has appealed to all the voters that every voter must exercise his franchise. There are 19810 polling stations in the state.
(editor@dailyworld.in)