Jaipur, March 15 (IANS): Hectic activities are being undertaken in Rajasthan to increase the voting percentage during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, officials said on Friday.

Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said, “During the assembly elections in 2023, the voting percentage of urban voters was less as compared to rural areas.”

He directed officials to make concerted and special efforts and formulate an action plan to remove this urban apathy.

Praveen Gupta was sharing detailed guidelines through video conferencing with officials regarding the effective conduct of SVEEP activities to increase the voting percentage and motivate the voters.

He said, “Voter awareness should be spread through different mediums. Information should also be given to the employees and workers about the statutory provision of paid leave on the voting day," he added.

He directed officials to run a special campaign at all the polling stations on Sunday as part of the process of finding one's name in the voter list. The campaign will be organized from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. to provide information about names, serial numbers and polling stations etc. in the voter list at all the 51756 polling stations in the state, he said.

Gupta shared details about the special "Aao Booth Chale" campaign which was organized at all the polling stations of the state on March 10. He said that a total of 6,84,199 voters searched their names in the voter list. Of these, 2,12,742 voters checked their names in the voter list through the Voter HelpLine app.

He informed that hands on training will also be provided to the voters on how to check their name in the voter list through the Voter Helpline App (VHA) in the campaign on Sunday.

Gupta said that if the name of any person aged 18 years or above has been left out of the voter list, he can still get his name added to the list through the VHA or the BLO present at the polling station. Youths who reached 18 years of age on April 1, 2024 can also submit advance applications for voter registration. If a voter gets his name added to the voter list even 10 days before the last date of withdrawal of the nomination of the candidate, he will be able to exercise his franchise.

He said that to increase the voting percentage, recorded messages of state icons should be broadcast through social media and other mediums. Also, information related to elections and the facilities available to the voters at the polling station should be widely publicized.