The 25th of January is observed as the “National Voters’ Day”, throughout the country.The punch line for this event is “Proud to be a Voter-Ready to Vote”. The theme behind this special day is “Greater Participation for a Stronger Democracy”. This day got its special status last year, which marked the Diamond Jubilee ofElection Commission of India .
This initiative is expected to give the youth a sense of citizenship,empowerment, pride and participation and also inspire them to exercise their franchise, when the occasion comes.It was aimed “to provide the unrepresented youth of the country an opportunity to give vent to their feelings and help them become a part of the political process,”.
The Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Bill, 1988 lowered the age of voting from 21 years to 18 years. The amendment was made in view of the fact that several countries had adopted 18 years as the official voting age. Furthermore, several states in India allowed 18-year olds to vote for the local authorities.
It was observed that the youth was “literate and enlightened” and “politically conscious” and that “lowering of the voting age would provide to the unrepresented youth of the country an opportunity to give vent to their feelings and help them become a part of the political process.” This led to the official voting age being lowered to 18 years.
However, year after year, it was observed that the modern day young voters were not getting involved in the election procedures in a big way, and continued to remain indifferent to elections as they could not identify with their political leaders. Let’s hope that the National Voters’ Day initiative changes things for the better.We hope this will educate and encourage people to come forward and exercise their power to vote.
