The All India Congress Committee Minority Department organized an online workshop titled ‘More Voting: The Lifeline of a Strong Democracy’ on the evening of May 7.
Workshop coordinator Shibli Manzoor emphasised the importance of maximum public participation in safeguarding democracy, especially in the current period. He said this programme was conceived with the approval of the National Chairman of the department, Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi.
“D. Naqvi, a retired judge; Prashant Tandon, a senior journalist; Amir Idrisi, chairman of AMP; and Jaigam Murtuza, a journalist and writer, were invited as speakers. They shared their experiences and provided insights into the technical and practical aspects of increasing voter turnout. The speakers commended the campaign initiated by the All India Congress Committee Minority Department, emphasising the importance of voter awareness in the current state of the country and urging maximum participation in the electoral process,” he said.
The fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections is to take place on May 13, when 96 constituencies from 10 States will go to the polls. The process of filing nominations for 96 of these began on April 18. The last date of the nominations in Phase 4 was April 25. All the constituencies of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will vote in a single phase on May 13.
The Election Commission of India on March 16 announced general elections to the 18th Lok Sabha as well as four States – Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim. The Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases over the months of April and May, with over 90 crore eligible citizens voting for 543 seats of the Lower House. Results will be declared on June 4. However, in three phases polls, experts are worried with the low turnout and several efforts are being made to encourage voters to come out of their houses to vote in large numbers.
The EC has also taken up several measures to motivate voters.
