HP Election Watch and ADR to launch electoral literacy campaign

The Himachal Election Watch, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti have decided to launch an electoral literacy campaign in view of the elections to the 14th Legislative Assembly of Himachal Pradesh.
Himachal Election Watch coordinator Dr O P Bhuraita, on Sunday, said the tagline of this campaign is “I Will Vote and You”. “During the month-long campaign, mass dialogues will be conducted in more than 1000 Gram Panchayats. Workshops will be organized to motivate the youth and involve them in the election dialogues,” he added.
The objective of the campaign is to make people aware of the importance of voting and motivate them not to boycott voting, he said, adding that it also aims to involve them in dialogue on development issues. India’s first voter Shyam Saran Negi, 106 years, was also contacted to support the campaign, he claimed.
“Himachal Election Watch and ADR have been releasing background reports based on criminal, financial, educational and income tax details of candidates and winners. This time also this report will be released,” he said.
As per the Supreme Court directives it is mandatory for political parties at the Central and State election level to upload on their website detailed information regarding candidates with pending criminal cases including the nature of the offences, relevant particulars like whether charges have been framed, the concerned Court, the case number, he added
The Supreme Court has also directed political parties to list out reasons on their website including their social media platforms for nominating candidates with criminal background within 72 hours of the selection of such candidates.
The Himachal Election Watch will approach the Election Department and urge them to monitor publication of this information on websites, print media and social media, said Dr Bhuraita.