The first ever Global Conference on Voter Education, a three -day event, was held at New Delhi on October 19 which was attended by the del¬egates from 28 democratic countries, including Pakistan who confirmed its participation at the eleventh hour and 5 international organizations.
The conference was organized with an aim to share best practices, policies and initiatives of voter education by election management bodies among member countries with the help of voter education and outreach.
The topic of the conference, inaugu¬rated by the chief election commis¬sioner Dr. Nasim Zaidi, was voter education for inclusive, informed and ethical participation. It deliberated upon five topics ranging from elec¬toral literacy to enhanced participa¬tion by special categories of voters, role of information communication technology in voter education and strategies for informed and ethical voting.
• At the occasion, the election com¬mission unveiled VoICE.NET - a global knowledge network on voter education, which aims to provide an innovative, wide platform to share knowledge, resources, act on discus¬sion board and familiarize member countries with one another's practices regarding voter education and partici¬pation. The underlying idea is to learn from each other's experiences and incorporate the same in the respective electoral systems so as to boost voter turnouts.
• Mexico, in particular, shared its experience with compulsory voting, mentioning that while it has intro¬duced the compulsory voting, it does not enforce it by putting penalties if not followed. Mexico is also the first country to introduce internet voting.
On making voting mandatory; one of the participants stressed that Votir for a candidate should be attractn in itself and the voters should be terested to participate in this proce independent of any force which necessary to protect the voters fro the tyranny of the parties takingi vantage of this incentive.
Voting In India
• In India, as per the Indian Constg tion, all Indian citizens above d age of 18 years who have register themselves as voters are digit to vote under article 326(adult frage)These individuals can vote national, state, district as weft local government 1;rody electiol No individual can be detained prevented from voting, unless tit fulfill the criteria for disqualificaf mentioned in constitution. Even NI are now eligible to vote through ballot system or through proxy d SC accepted EC recommendation NRI voting in 2015.
The conference was organized with an aim to share best practices, policies and initiatives of voter education by election management bodies among member countries with the help of voter education and outreach.
The topic of the conference, inaugu¬rated by the chief election commis¬sioner Dr. Nasim Zaidi, was voter education for inclusive, informed and ethical participation. It deliberated upon five topics ranging from elec¬toral literacy to enhanced participa¬tion by special categories of voters, role of information communication technology in voter education and strategies for informed and ethical voting.
• At the occasion, the election com¬mission unveiled VoICE.NET - a global knowledge network on voter education, which aims to provide an innovative, wide platform to share knowledge, resources, act on discus¬sion board and familiarize member countries with one another's practices regarding voter education and partici¬pation. The underlying idea is to learn from each other's experiences and incorporate the same in the respective electoral systems so as to boost voter turnouts.
• Mexico, in particular, shared its experience with compulsory voting, mentioning that while it has intro¬duced the compulsory voting, it does not enforce it by putting penalties if not followed. Mexico is also the first country to introduce internet voting.
On making voting mandatory; one of the participants stressed that Votir for a candidate should be attractn in itself and the voters should be terested to participate in this proce independent of any force which necessary to protect the voters fro the tyranny of the parties takingi vantage of this incentive.
Voting In India
• In India, as per the Indian Constg tion, all Indian citizens above d age of 18 years who have register themselves as voters are digit to vote under article 326(adult frage)These individuals can vote national, state, district as weft local government 1;rody electiol No individual can be detained prevented from voting, unless tit fulfill the criteria for disqualificaf mentioned in constitution. Even NI are now eligible to vote through ballot system or through proxy d SC accepted EC recommendation NRI voting in 2015.
