Mumbai: The NCP Friday marked National Voters Day by asking electors to exercise their franchise scrupulously and also verify if their names figured in the electoral rolls. The National Voters Day is being observed on January 25 every year since 2011 to mark the formation of the Election Commission on the day in 1950. The Nationalist Congress Party made the appeal amid allegations made by ally Congress recently that “bogus electors” were being enrolled in the voters list. “On the occasion of the National Voters’ Day, I appeal all the eligible voters from the country, particularly the youth, to make the right use of their Constitutional right,” former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Twitter.
He also extended wishes to the Election Commission for its contribution towards “honouring” the largest democracy of the world. NCP MP from Baramati, Supriya Sule, urged voters to remain alert and check if their names were part of the list. The party’s national spokesperson Nawab Malik said voting was “not just an elector’s responsibility, but also power”. “On this #NationalVotersDay, I urge all the voters to be responsible and be in power,” he said on the micro-blogging site.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in State Legislative Council, Dhananjay Munde, asked voters if they would be “hoodwinked by false promises like Rs 15 lakh in bank account” or take part in the ‘festival of democracy’ (election) by voting scrupulously. Munde also conducted an opinion poll on his Twitter handle asking electors if they would vote for “note (money) or vote”. Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam had recently alleged that bogus electors were being enrolled in the voters’ list.
He had taken up the issue with the Chief Electoral Officer Ashwani Kumar and had demanded postponing the publication of the electoral rolls till the names of the “bogus voters” were removed. The final voters list is scheduled to be released on January 31.
