Gujarat polls: EC unveils mascots

Gandhinagar: Gujarat State Election Commission on Wednesday introduced mascots "Shri Mat" and "Shri Mati" to create awareness among male and female voters to exercise their right in a free and just manner in the upcoming Assembly Elections.

"To create awareness among female and male citizens about voting and exercising their franchise in a free and fair manner sans any fear, we have introduced these mascots," state Chief Electoral Officer Anita Karwal said. "The mascot will represent the indelible black ink (a sign that a person has voted) on the index finger of the left hand," Karwal said, adding, that "Mat" means "vote" and "Mati" means "sense" meaning voter should cast their vote sensibly. The State Election Commission will advertise this mascot through posters, hoardings and other channels of communication. Elaborating the initiatives taken by the State Election Commission, Karwal said, "The Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced an intense three-layer training for election officials. Police officers across the state would also be imparted training regarding electioneering duty using case studies, power point presentations among other modules." Since the Model Code of Conduct came into effect following the announcement of poll dates on October 3, materials and literature of political parties totalling 2,42,225 have been removed from across the state, Karwal said. Posters and hoardings numbering 17,537, 15,078 banners, 42,039 wall writings, 85,899 defacements and permanent writings, 1,66,812 other materials have been removed from across the state by the Election Commission, the officer informed. PTI