Assam chief electoral officer (CEO), Mukesh Sahu launched the ‘i-help’ initiative at a meeting held at Election Department, Janata Bhawan on Monday.
‘i-help’ is a joint initiative of the office of the chief electoral officer, Assam and Common Service Centres, Assam to promote digital electoral literacy in the State.
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The Common Service Centres, are internet-enabled access points spread throughout the country delivering various government and non-government digital services (e-services) to the citizens. Through its vast network, particularly in rural areas, CSC is uniquely positioned to significantly extend the awareness and outreach activities of CEO, Assam under Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) in the State. It is geared to ensure that no voter is left behind.
Addressing the district managers of the CSCs, CEO MukeshSahu stated, “Today, we are experiencing a transition period to the digital world. To make the transition smoother for the general public, CSC can play a vital role to educate the people on the usage of IT-enabled services related to election. This will fill the digital-divide and fulfill the objective of turning the General Election more inclusive and participatory.”
CSC has presence in all the 2,528 gram panchayats in the State. There are 4,587 functional CSCs in Assam. The CEO called upon the representatives of CSCs to mobilize the citizens and provide education on voter rights and electoral process.
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“The presence of the CSCs at the grassroots level can be utilized to educate the voters on ECI’s IT-enabled services like c-Vigil, voter helpline no. It will be a win-win situation if the objective of voter awareness is fulfilled and it will also help the CSCs to build lasting relationship with the people,” added the CEO.
CSCs will have dedicated help desks to facilitate PwD voters for online registration, transport facility, wheel chairs etc at polling booths. Under i-help, there will be dedicated ambassadors named Divyang Sarothi who will work with CSCs to spread the message of electoral participation among fellow PwDs.
Pankaj Chakrabarty, deputy secretary, Election Department underlined the importance of voter participation in making the biggest festival of democracy a success and Nitul Khataniar, assisting officer of SVEEP, explained the usages and utilities of various apps and helpline desks to the CSC representatives.
It may be mentioned that representatives of the CSCs will undergo training from March 17 to 19, 2019 and awareness camps will function from March 20 to 27, 2019.