The Election Commission is considering instituting a national award for the best media campaign for motivating voter awareness and participation in elections. Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said, a jury consisting of eminent people like leading journalists and jurists could be set up to pick the media institution which had run the best campaign. He said in the last year, 3.8 crore new voters have been enrolled of which 1.8 crores belong to the age group of 18 who have just become eligible.

Mr. Quraishi said, on the National Voters Day on January 25, there is a programme for voters and officials to take a pledge to strengthen the campaign. He said, Booth-level officers in over 8 lakh polling station areas will felicitate the newly-registered voters in a brief ceremony and hand over photo identity cards to them. He added that they will be given a badge with a slogan 'Proud to be a Voter — Ready to Vote'. He also appealed to the media to involve themselves in the process so that people participation in elections goes up.