Vijayawada: As many as 50,000 students and youth got their names enrolled as new voters in just 12 hours, from morning to evening on Monday, in Guntur district, creating a new record in the country. The youth showed interest in getting registered as voters under the ongoing Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme.
The district administration made arrangements in all educational institutions and provided assistance to the youth in filling and submitting new voter enrolment application form-6, taking help of the managements of colleges.
In Guntur district, the enrolment of new voters began in January this year but only 1.29 lakh people submitted applications seeking voting right, till Monday. Sensing that the youth had not got registered as new voters, Guntur district collector K. Sasidhar and the officials held a meeting with the managements of all colleges and universities at Venkateswara Vignana Mandiram in Guntur and asked them to ensure that students of their institutions got enrolled as new voters. Also, the officials conducted a campaign stressing the need to exercise franchise for good governance. They motivated students to get registered as voters and asked them to get necessary proofs.
On Monday, the educational institutions reopened after Dasara holidays and the revenue, municipal officials visited every college, helping students fill the application form. By evening, 50,000 students got enrolled as new voters, creating a record in the country.
Sk Majid Ali, a student, said that the government officials helped them filled the application form without any trouble. They hailed the efforts of the election commission and district officials in enrolment of eligible students as new voters.
They were happy that they too can exercise their franchise in the next few months.
