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The Election Commission of India has launched an awareness campaign to increase voter turnout in the north Indian hill state, Himachal Pradesh, with young cycling enthusiasts. The Chief Electoral Officer of Himachal Pradesh, Manish Garg, flagged off a cycling exercise with a campaign to make voters aware. Two cyclists, including the state icon of the election commission in Himachal Pradesh, will reach the world's highest polling station at Tashigang in the Tribal district of Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh at an altitude of 15256 feet above sea level. The Chief Electoral Officer of Himachal Pradesh said the objective is to tell voters that if cycling can reach the world's highest polling station, why can't they come out to vote at the station that is near their houses?
The youth and state icon of the state election commission, Jaspreet Pal, said that they are enthusiastic about motivating youth to vote. Jaspreet Pal, said, "As you know, in our country, the festival of democracy is underway. I believe that as we celebrate other festivals in India with great fervour and enthusiasm, we shall also similarly celebrate this festival of democracy. This expedition is a challenge to reach a higher altitude and the second challenge is to motivate people for elections and voting." "As you know, we have completed four phases of elections, and three phases are there We shall go for polling in the 7th phase. We want to focus on the youth of the state to motivate them for greater participation in voting, as the Election Commission has made me the state icon of Himachal Pradesh. Youth are themselves icons; they can connect with people and motivate them to vote," he added further. The Chief Electoral Officer, Manish Garg, said that Himachal Pradesh had broken earlier the old records of voting percentage and this year as well, the state will try to break and set a record of highest voting for the nation. "We have Assembly by Elections and Parliamentary Constituency on June 1st. This cycling expedition is going to be very important and give an important message to the young voters. There is a craze for cycling among the youth. Large numbers of people are cycling. We are trying to connect the young and other voters as well. This expedition will go from Shimla to Tashigang and it will go through Theog, Rampur, Rekong Peo, Kaza, Nako, Hikim, and Tashigang." "We have also organised that awareness programmes would be organised in schools and colleges. Through this, we are trying to convey the message that we could reach Tashigang by cycling so it is easy to reach the polling stations. Himachal Pradesh had a good tradition of breaking previous records of voting, as we saw in the last Vidhansabha elections also. This time, we hope that we will be breaking the records of not only the Vidhan Sabha but also the previous Lok Sabha as well," he added further. Notably, Himachal Pradesh will go for the poll in the 7th and last phase and elections will be held on June 1 for the four parliamentary constituencies and 6 assembly by-elections. (ANI)
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