New Delhi, 25th January 2015: The Election Commission of India (ECI) today awarded the prestigious ‘National CSO Award – 2015’ for “Best Voter Education and Awareness for General Election to Lok Sabha 2014” to National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms.

ADR Founder Trustees Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar and Ajit Ranade, and Maj. Gen. Anil Verma (Retd.), Head, ADR, received the award from the hands of honourable former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on the occasion of ECI’s 5^th National Voter’s Day celebrations held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. The NEW chapters of Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have received special mention in the award for their expansive and innovative campaigns to reach out to the voters.

Shri Rajiv Kumar (Bihar Election Watch), Shri Ranjan Kumar Mohanty (Odisha Election Watch), Smt. Rolly Shivhare (Madhya Pradesh Election Watch), Shri Prashant Dubey (Madhya Pradesh Election Watch), Shri Girish Upadhyay (Madhya Pradesh Election Watch), Shri Sanjay Singh (Uttar Pradesh Election Watch), Shri Anil Sharma (Uttar Pradesh Election Watch), Shri Ajit Ranade (Maharashtra Election Watch/ADR) and Shri Sharad Kumar (Maharashtra Election Watch) received the Award on behalf of their states.

The intensive Voter Awareness campaign named “Mera Vote Mera Desh” was launched by NEW and ADR in February 2014 and continued till the polling for 2014 Lok Sabha ended. The Campaign was undertaken in almost every state of the country through the local state chapter of NEW to educate voters on the background details of candidates and build public opinion on the need for de-criminalization and reduction of money power in politics.

Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization working towards electoral and political reforms for the past 15 years. It aims at decriminalization of politics, empowerment of the electorate and bringing transparency, accountability and inner-party democracy in the functioning of political parties.

ADR engages with more than 1200 partner organizations across the country, collectively called the National Election Watch (NEW). The NEW is a national-wide campaign comprising of citizen led organization working towards strengthening democracy. It is active in almost all states of India and has conducted Election Watches for all Assembly and Parliamentary Elections from 2002 to enable citizens to make an informed choice during elections.

Contacts:

Media and Journalist Helpline +91 80103 94248 Email: adr@adrindia.org

Maj Gen Anil Verma (Retd.), Head National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms +91 8826479910 anilverma@adrindia.org

Prof Jagdeep Chhokar IIM Ahmedabad (Retd) Founder Member National Election Watch, Association for Democratic Reforms +919999620944 jchhokar@gmail.com

Prof Trilochan Sastry IIM Bangalore Founder Member, National Election Watch, Association for Democratic Reforms +919448353285, trilochans@iimb.ernet.in

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