Every year, India celebrates National Voters Day on January 25 to encourage each and every vote in the country to participate in the electoral process.
The country marked its first-ever National Voters Day in 2011. The Union government back then, under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved a proposal of the law ministry to this end.
The need for doing something to highlight the importance of voting was felt when Ambika Soni, then-information and broadcasting minister, pointed out that new voters were showing less interest in getting registered in the electoral rolls.
To address this issue, the Election Commission of India (ECI) decided to launch a nationwide effort to identify all eligible voters who reach the age of 18 on January 1 annually.
Such voters would be enrolled and given the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) on January 25 every year.
This year’s theme for National Voters Day is yet to be disclosed. In 2021, the theme was ‘Making Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative’.