Radio Mirchi Bengaluru gets EC award for voter awareness campaign | India News

NEW DELHI: A total 16 individuals and organisations were on Thursday conferred the Election Commission’s ‘Best Electoral Practices Awards’ for 2023, with Chhattisgarh chief electoral officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale accepting the ‘best-peforming state award’ from President Droupadi Murmu for the overall conduct of free and fair polls in the state last year, including in areas affected by Left-wing extremism.Radio Mirchi, Bengaluru, was awarded in the media category for its voter awareness campaign during last year’s Karnataka poll.
Dantewada collector Vinit Nandanwar was honoured for the highest rise in turnout in the Naxal-hit district, superintendent of police (SP) of Tripura’s Dhalai district Ramesh Chand for ensuring zero poll violence during state polls last year.

Radio Mirchi Bengaluru was awarded in the electronic media category for its ‘Ee Sala Vote Namde’ campaign for the Karnataka assembly poll in 2023. The campaign — covering the three stations of Bengaluru, Mysuru and Hubli — created a buzz that it is “ a cool thing” to vote. A rap was created and also performed live on the ground. Informative videos, celebrity appeals, jingles, and messages from election officials urging people to step out and vote were aired and also posted on their social media platforms.
Chitradurga district election officer (DEO) Divya Prabhu was conferred the award for electoral roll management for having pushed up the enrollment of persons with disabilities (PwDs) and achieving their 100% participation in 2023 Karnataka poll. Sri Ganganagar collector Ansh Deep was awarded in the IT initiatives category for his ‘election buddy’ app while Nagpur DEO Vipin Itankar was honoured for enhancing voter education and electoral participation.
SP of Champai, Mizoram, Vineet Kumar and SP of Dhalai, Tripura, Ramesh Chand were awarded for poll security management. The former had focused on multi-layered checking using technology, combined with physical checking, resulting in incident free elections and large-scale seizures of drugs, alcohol and cash. Commissioner of commercial taxes, Karnataka Shikha C won the award for election management (expenditure) for enabling poll-time seizures worth more than Rs 300 crore.