April 1st to be a qualifying date to enroll new voters for upcoming elections: Himachal CEO

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], April 8 : Himachal Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg on Monday announced that April 1st will now serve as the qualifying date for individuals who have reached the age of 18 years, allowing them to register themselves as voters.
As per the revised guidelines, citizens who turn 18 on the 1st of January, April, July, or October will now have the opportunity to enrol on the voters' list four times a year.
"As per the latest amendments in the law, the Election Commission of India has further elaborated new guidelines for the enrollment of first voters. Stating here today Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg, said that the qualifying dates for registration for new voters who has attained the age of 18 years on 1st of either of the months, viz. January, April, July or October, were eligible to get themselves enrolled in the voters list instead of once a year as was the practice earlier," as per a press release.
The changes have been made by the ECI to facilitate the first voters to get themselves enrolled in the voter list four times a year to exercise their right to franchise during the elections.
In view of these amendments, those citizens who have attained the age of 18 years as on April 1, 2024, can also register themselves as voters for casting their votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh, he remarked.
He was chairing the meeting of the State Systematic Voters Education & Electoral Participation (SVEEP) core committee held here today.
"The new voters can also check their names in the voter list by downloading the Voters Helpline App (VHA) from Google Play and the new voters need to register themselves by filling out Form-6," as per the release.
The CEO emphasised the need to make the youth aware of the misconception that if they have voted for the Panchayat elections, they are also automatically eligible to vote in Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha elections, which is not correct. Such new voters need to register themselves in the electoral rolls by filling up FORM-6 as prescribed by ECI to obtain their EPIC (cards).
The new voters can fill out an online Form-6, while overseas voters need to fill out Form 6A on the Voter's service portal, https://voters.eci.gov.in or on the Voter Helpline App (available on the Google Play store-Android or the App Store iOS).
"Detailed discussions were also held regarding formulating a comprehensive SVEEP strategy, an action plan and monitoring of Voter awareness work throughout the state. The CEO said that under the guidance of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the state election department was envisaging in engaging more youth and increasing their turnout. While emphasising on campaigns like Mission-414 (in which there was less than 60 per cent voter turnout in 414 polling stations) and 22 going to 72, (where voter turnout was less than 72 per cent in LSE 2019), he said that Doordarshan and All India Radio should make programmes and short reels for social and electronic media to disseminate the message of 'No voter to be left behind'. Besides, they should also make reels and record the messages of centenarian voters at least once in each district," the release stated.
He also deliberated on the need to engage the volunteers of Nehru Yuva Kendra's and Self Help Groups (SHG) to educate the rural populace of the state and work on mission mode in such 414 polling stations and motivate the women in such other 08 constituencies where women voter turnout remained less in LSE, 2019, particularly in the few assembly segments of Shimla, Chamba and Sirmaur.
"OSD SVEEP Neeraj Sharma conducted the proceedings of the meeting. Additional CEO, Daleep Negi and Neelam Dulta, representatives of Doordarshan, All India Radio, Nehru Yuva Kendra, Youth Service and Sports, Postal Department, and social media experts were also present on the occasion, amongst others," as per the release.