ECI source claimed that the existing Voter Awareness Forum project, which was start in 2019. It will utilised to raise awareness in organisations with more than 500 employees.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) will not duplicate its experiment in Gujarat in December. Where it signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with companies to verify whether employees. Who take vacation on election day really vote, in the Northeastern states going to polls this month.
Senior ECI officials stated that there were no future intentions to sign into such MoUs with employers in any state.
Tripura will have assembly elections on February 16, and Meghalaya and Nagaland will hold elections on February 27. Dr Ranbir Singh, the ECI’s special officer for Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP), stated that the Commission will not engage into MoUs with “specific entities” in states.
Instead, a top ECI source claimed that the existing Voter Awareness Forum project, which was start in 2019. It will utilised to raise awareness in organisations with more than 500 employees.
The MoUs signed in Gujarat by the office of the stats. Chief Voting Officer (CEO) P Bharathi ahead of the December 2022. Assembly elections were intend to track the workforce’s electoral engagement.
In October, the CEO informed to media that 233 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) representing employees from 1,017 industrial units had been inked with the units and industry associations.
However, in response to a question submitted by a News reporter under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Gujarat CEO’s office stated on January 12 of this year that “total 19 MoUs were sign by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer. Gujarat State to encourage electoral participation.”
In answer to an inquiry about how many workers were covere by the MoUs, how many took leave for the Assembly elections, and how many voted, the CEO’s office stated: “No such information is accessible with this office.”
As a result, CEO Bharathi was unable to reached for comment.
The Gujarat move began after the ECI asked all government agencies, public sector organisations, and business companies with more than 500 employees throughout the country to register how many electors were absent but did not vote.