Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra: The Election Commission on Thursday asked the Central government not to undertake the proposed Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra in the five election-bound states till December 5. The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is a large-scale outreach program focused on government schemes and initiatives.
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram are scheduled to go for polling between November 7 and November 30, with the results set to be declared on December 3 in these five states.
Here’s what EC said to Centre
In a letter addressed to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, the Election Commission has asked that the government refrain from appointing “district rath prabharis” in the states preparing for elections and in the Tapi constituency of Nagaland, where a by-election is scheduled.
“It has been brought to the notice of the Commission that a letter has been circulated to the ministries for the nomination of senior officers as ‘District Rath Praharis’ as special officers for the proposed ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ starting from 20th November, 2023,” the Commission said.
The Election Commission highlighted that elections have been announced in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram. “Commission has directed that the aforesaid activities should not be taken in the constituencies where Model Code of Conduct is in force up till 5th December, 2023,” it said.
What did the government say?
Earlier in the day, the government had made it clear that the yatra will skip the poll-bound states, stating that its ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’, which is aimed at ensuring the implementation of the Centre’s welfare schemes in rural India will not be taken out in the poll-bound states where model code of conduct is in place.
Apurva Chandra, the Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said that the yatra will start in the poll-bound states- Telangana, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh- once elections are concluded. “There is no plan to start the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ in election-bound states where the model code of conduct is in place. In poll-bound states the yatra will start when the model code of conduct is lifted,” Chandra said.
Chandra said a decision has been taken to drop the word ‘rath’ to refer to the vehicles publicising government schemes across 2.55 lakh gram panchayats and nearly 18,000 locations in urban areas.
Viksit Bharat Sankalp yatra
‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp’ yatra will be launched on November 15 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Birsa Munda Jayanti. More than 2,500 IEC vans will cover 2.5 lakh gram panchayats and 3700 urban local bodies in over 14 thousand locations. Yatra will begin in tribal areas and will go on for two months.
As part of ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’, which will be launched after Diwali, specially customised vehicles or ‘raths’ will roll out to the length and breadth of the country, reaching the targeted beneficiaries of central schemes and ensuring that they are being implemented properly.
The objective of the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp’ yatra is to reach out to the last person, yatra intends to highlight central government schemes and its benefits through personal stories, experience sharing, nukad nataks and even quizzes will also be organised to make people aware of benefits of schemes run by the central government.
(With agencies input)