Arindam Ganguly, OP
Bhubaneswar: The state celebrated the festival of democracy in the form of a state-level walkathon and Patha Utsav in Bhubaneswar signalling the beginning of Special Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls 2025. The revision process, which started from Tuesday, will continue till November 28.
The walkathon, flagged off by Chief Electoral Officer RS Gopalan, saw a huge participation of students, who marched towards Ram Mandir from Master Canteen Square in the city. They held various placards showing their commitment to the process of preparation of final voters’ list.
Later a Patha Utsav was held near the Capital High School. Among those who participated in the event include Khurda Collector and District Magistrate Chanchal Rana, Khurda ADM Pratap Chandra Beura Additional Chief Electoral Officers Shatrughna Kar and Mihira Prasad Mohanty, Tokyo Paralympics Badminton Champion Pramod Bhagat, Paralympics 2000 meter race Winner Kamalakant Naik, Deputy Chief Electoral Officers Laxmiprasad Sahu and Padmaja Dash among others.
Gopalan said that every citizen who has attained the age of 18 years must register their name in the voters’ list. Our main objective is to strengthen democracy by creating widespread awareness among voters and 100 per cent participation in elections. Rana expressed his opinion by stating that democracy and elections are like two sides of the same coin and one is not possible without the other. Bhagat said that it is really commendable to enrol more and more new voters during the special short revision programme of voter list.
Nayak said that the country’s democracy can be strengthened if the voters are aware and vote fearlessly without any bias. Transgender Sadhana Mishra said that there is no doubt that the number of voters especially women and youth will increase in the state due to proper guidance and awareness programmes by the Chief Electoral Officer. On the occasion, a quiz competition related to the elections of the country was organised. Prizes were distributed to the students who answered the questions correctly. A folk drama and Rangoli competition were also organised.
PNN