Tura, Oct 14th: : The West Garo Hills (WGH) District Administration, led by the DC, Pravin Bakshi has been appreciated through the country for its foray made to educate the people of the district in the issue of election and the getting people enrolled from the district. The ideas have been novel and the trend continued this year as well with the DA completing a two day musical and sporting extravaganza to lure the youth towards their responsibility towards being an elector. The program comes under the aegis of SVEEP or (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation).
The DC of West Garo Hills, Pravin Bakshi along with his team thought up the idea. Speaking on the occasion, the DC said, “Music and Sports have always been the binding factors for the youth of today. These two things have the power to bring together people of all hues to a common cause. We know the same is true for our district as well. We want to bring the youth of today to the understanding of the electoral system and the responsibility they have as citizens to make a difference through their franchise. The EC of India has already stated that the coming elections will be decided by the people between the age groups of 18-25 and the same is true. It is upon each one of you to fill in the forms and submit them before or on the 15th to complete the process”.
The upcoming MP and MDC elections are due soon and the focus has now shifted to ensuring that the high percentage of voter turnout within the state is a tradition that is maintained. ADC Charming Sangma, who has been in charge of the preparations for the event stated that the two evenings were for the youth and they not only need to enjoy the concerts, but also ensure they register themselves. He said it was a responsibility for the people who would be 18 or above by the 30th of Jan, 2014, to register.
Getting the message across to the people of the town were two rock bands, Restless Desire – winner of Meg Icon 4 and the Titans, who belted out popular numbers along with their originals to keep the whole crowd rejuvenated. The 2 day program started on the 11th and 12th of October. Restless Desire, played themselves to the crowd on the 11th from 3:30 pm, while the Titans began their jig at around 6 pm in the evening the next day. In between, the two most popular football clubs, Maram FC and Boca FC played a game of football for the people of the town to watch and enjoy.
In the end however, the message came through loud and clear – that the power of franchise was something the youth had to be very proud of. The message was given to them in the language that is easy for all to understand and given the high voter turnout, it is likely to bear fruit for the people of the region in their choice of leaders.(SP News)
