National Voters Day 2021: All you Need to Know

National Voters Day is being celebrated on January 25 every year and this year the Election Commission of India is celebrating the 11th National Voters' Day. The day is especially dedicated to the valuable voters of our country who is responsible to elect the leaders. This day is utilized to spread awareness about the significance of voting and taking part in the electoral procedure of the world's largest democracy. On National Voters' Day, new voters are congratulated and given their Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC). Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the Election Commission of India and wrote on Twitter, "National Voters' Day is an occasion to appreciate the remarkable contribution of the EC to strengthen our democratic fabric and ensure smooth conduct of elections."

The significance of National Voters' Day:

National Voters Day is being celebrated on January 25 every year. This day was first celebrated in our country in 2011 by over ten lakhs region of our country where there is polling stations, subdivisions, and district headquarters in order to observe the foundation day of the Election Commission of India in 1950.

The prime purpose of this day or the significance of this day is to encourage, facilitate, and ensure the enrollment of maximum new voters and making them a part of our democratic system. It is especially dedicated to the huge number of voters in our country and is utilized by the participation of voters in the electoral process.

What is the theme for the National voters' day 2021?

The theme for this year's National Voters' Day is ''Making Our Voters Empowered, Vigilant, Safe and Informed". It means to encourage the participation of the voters actively during elections and motivating them to be responsible citizens of our country. Considering the pandemic the ECI has committed to conducting the polls safely.

President Ram Nath Kovind was a part of the event as the chief guest at the Election Commission of India which was organized in the Ashok Hotel in Delhi and the President attended the event virtually from Rashtrapati Bhawan. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Law and IT minister too attended the event.

President Ram Nath Kovind addressed virtually that, "After being inspired by successful election process in India, many countries showed interest in researching on it".

Launching of Digital Voter-ID cards:

e-Epic (Electronic Electoral Photo Identity Card) has been launched by the Election Commission of India on this day. e-EPIC is a non-editable secure portable document format (PDF) version of the EPIC and will have a secured QR code with image and demographics like serial number, part number, etc. E-EPIC can be downloaded on a mobile or a computer and can be digitally stored. This is in addition to physical IDs being issued for fresh registration.

The initiative is launched into two phases. From January 25-31, which is the first phase, all the fresh voters who have applied for the voter-ID card and registered their mobile numbers in Form-6 will be able to download the e-EPIC by just authenticating their mobile number. The mobile numbers should be unique and should not be registered previously in the ECI's electoral rolls.

ECI officials said, "The second phase will start from February 1. It will be open for the general voters. All those who have given their mobile numbers (linked one) can also download their e-EPIC. The delays, losing cards, and not be able to get the voter-ID cards is an issue that won't be there. Moreover, most of the ID cards are moving on the digital platform".

The e-EPIC cards are available on the Voter Helpline App and the website: https://voterportal.eci.gov.in/ and https://www.nvsp.in/.

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