Assam: Kokrajhar deputy commissioner Varnali Deka gets best electoral practice award

GUWAHATI: Kokrajhar deputy commissioner, IAS officer Varnali Deka, who went from door to door to identify persons with disability (PWD) voters, distributed combs with poll date inscribed on the handle and sanitary napkins with poll messages to adult women to increase their electoral participation in Goalpara was presented with the national best electoral practice award for innovation measures in New Delhi on National Voters’ Day on Wednesday.
The Election Commission of India brochure states that Deka while as the district election officer of Goalpara in 2021 assembly election consolidated the database and compiled fragmented databases for PWD voters through door-to-door survey of voters and use of apps to make the 2021 Legislative Assembly Elections accessible in letter and spirit, which this led to increase in no of PWD voters from 1931 to 10544
“Moreover, ‘POSHAN Clubs’ in colleges of Goalpara and ‘Divyaang Sarathi’ App for PWD voters were novel initiatives,” the brochure stated.
Similarly a second woman IAS officer, Cachar district election officer Keerthi Jalli received the ‘Best Electoral Practices Award for Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation” in the national capital.
She has been honoured for taking comprehensive steps to enthuse voters by organising campaigns like ‘GARV Cachar Mega’ and ‘PRONORENI’ resulting in an increase in electors in 18-19 yrs age cohort, from 6,923 to 27,780. Moreover, Cachar has made its entry into the India Book of Records 2021 for a rangoli measuring 26,387 feet X 6 feet.
On the other hand, Assam CEO Nitin Khade received the award for ‘Excellence to States’ here from the governor of the state for conducting assembly elections in 2021 in “a truly inclusive, accessible, ethical, transparent, peaceful and in safe manner despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, resulting in female voter turnout increase by 0.72% and 1% increment in gender ratio.