New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind Saturday lamented that there are some voters who do not understand the importance of their right to exercise franchise and reminded them that in several countries people had to struggle to get it.
Addressing an event here on National Voters’ Day marking the establishment of the Election Commission in 1950, the President said from the very first general election to the 17th Lok Sabha polls held last year, voters have increased the credibility of Indian democracy all over the world.
“For this, I congratulate all the voters of the country. But even today some of our voters do not understand the importance of their franchise. They should know that in most of the democratic countries of the world common people had to agitate to get the franchise and many sacrifices had to be made,” Kovind said.
He pointed out that even in old democracies such as England, women were able to get equal voting rights in the 20th century, after nearly three decades of struggle.
The framers of the Indian Constitution gave this invaluable right to all adult Indians without any discrimination, the President said.
Kovind reminded the audience that soon after Independence, India granted adult suffrage to all citizens which came under a lot of criticism as at that time, democracy was limited to a few developed and prosperous nations.
There were reservations that with only 16 per cent literacy, and poverty, universal adult franchise would not be successful. He said the decision was dubbed as “biggest gamble in history”.
“But our voters proved it to be the biggest successful experiment in democracy in the world history. They lived up to the conviction expressed by the Constitution makers on the common man,” the President noted.
He hailed the varied interventions taken up by the Election Commission for the successful conduct of the 17th Lok Sabha election in a free, fair and transparent manner.
Kovind particularly appreciated the initiatives for reaching out to the voters in the remotest corner to include their names in the electoral roll and to encourage them to exercise the right to vote, resulting in the historic voter turnout of 67.47 per cent.
On this occasion, the President also gave away the National Awards for the Best Electoral Practices to officers for their outstanding performance in conducting elections in different spheres.
The district administrative and security officers were lauded for their sustained efforts in ensuring enrolment of new eligible voters, launch of SVEEP Apps to facilitate polling experience, conduct of elections with innovative means, facilitating persons with disabilities at polling booths as also working amid challenging circumstances.
Two books were launched by Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and presented to the President.
One was ‘Belief in the Ballot-II’ — an anthology of 101 human stories from across the nation about elections.
The other book was The Centenarian Voters: Sentinels of Our Democracy which enumerates the stories and experiences of 51 centenarians across India, who braved difficult terrain, poor health and other challenges to come out and vote.
PTI