Conference on ‘Making our Elections Inclusive and Accessible’ | 25 Jan 2019

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has organised the International Conference on ‘Making our Elections Inclusive and Accessible’ on the occasion of 9th National Voters Day which is observed on 25th January every year.

  • The National Voters’ Day is celebrated all over the country on January 25 every year since 2011 to mark the Foundation day of Election Commission of India, which was established on 25th January 1950.
    • The main purpose of the celebration is to encourage, facilitate and maximize the enrollment, especially for the new voters.
    • The theme of National Voters’ day 2019 is “No Voter to be Left Behind”.
  • To mark the occasion, ECI also released the January 2019 issue of its Quarterly Magazine ‘VOICE International’. The magazine carries rich experiences for knowledge sharing on Inclusive and Accessible Elections across the democracies around the world.
  • On the sidelines of the Conference ECI also renewed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation in the field of election management with the Election Commission of Bhutan.
  • ECI also highlighted its flagship programme, Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) for enhancing Inclusion among various categories of voters and to encourage their electoral participation.

Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP)

  • SVEEP, started in 2009 is the flagship program of the Election Commission of India for voter education, spreading voter awareness and promoting voter literacy in India.
  • SVEEP is designed according to the socio-economic, cultural and demographic profile of the state as well as the history of electoral participation in previous rounds of elections and learning thereof.