Today is National Voters' Day. Voting is extremely important in a democratic Nation as it provides citizens an opportunity to vote for what they believe in.

In order to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process, Government of India has been celebrating January 25th every year as "National Voters' Day". It is a day to celebrate the right to vote and the vibrant democracy of our Nation.

On this day, I call upon every single citizen of these Islands who has attained the age of 18 as on 1st January, 2020 to enrol and be proud as a voter. I request them to ensure that they receive the PVC-Electors Photo Identity Card (PVC-EPIC) which is being issued from the last year in this UT and most importantly, I also call upon them to exercise their right to vote at the appropriate time. I am pleased to know that through consistent efforts we have achieved an electoral roll of 2.99 lakhs voters of which, 1.41 lakhs are women in the A&N Islands following the draft roll recently published under current Roll Revision exercise.

The theme of this year's National Voters' Day is "Electoral Literacy for Stronger Democracy" and special focus around the theme shall to target and create awareness among all segments including women, youth, Person with Disabilities (PWDs), Senior Citizens, Service Voters, Overseas Indians as also other marginalized sections of the society to make democracy more stronger. I am confident that the residents of these Islands will heed this call and ensure that this theme is realized in this Union Territory, thus helping to ensure that India continues to be a strong vibrant and inclusive democracy. The NVD Pledge that we all would be taking today is a reaffirmation of our faith in ourselves, our country and our democracy.

I once again convey my best wishes to every Indian citizen on this happy occasion of National Voters' Day and appeal to everyone to make a great success by becoming an integral part of the democratic electoral process.

(Admiral D K Joshi)

PVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM (Rtd.)

Lt. Governor, A&N Islands and 

Vice-Chairman, Islands Development Agency.