The Election Commission is keen to rope in film stars and popular sportspersons like cricketer MS Dhoni with “non-political background” as Poll Ambassadors to motivate young voters to exercise their right to franchise.
“People should know that exercising their franchise is not only their right but also their duty so the Election Commission has mooted the idea to seek the help of stars to attract young voters,” Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said here today.
Asked whether the Indian cricket captain is one of the stars whose help the EC has sought, Quraishi said, “If Dhoni offers to become one, we will be very happy”.
“Dhoni is our hero, and the youth voters will be influenced by him (to cast votes). But he has to offer first,” Quraishi quickly added when asked whether the EC would make him as its poll ambassador.
“The voters should be told to elect good candidates,’ the Election Commissioner said. Dhoni has been enrolled in electoral rolls recently, Quraishi said. He, however, expressed disappointment with the average coverage of electoral photo identity roll in Jharkhand.
“It (the average) is less than compared to other states,” he added. “Our attempt is voters education and we need persons to tell the people about free and fair election,” the election commissioner said.
Pointing out that he had urged political parties to appoint booth level agents so that the task of enrolling more voters would increase, Quraishi said “maybe, the political parties did not understand the importance of appointing booth agents, who can solve several local issues.”