Mission Voting: Prez on DD, AIR

For the first time ever the President will address the nation on the eve of a parliamentary election. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will spea...

For the first time ever the President will address the nation on the eve of a parliamentary election. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will speak on the topic ‘‘Voting is a Sacred Mission’’ tomorrow on the eve of the first phase of elections and would spell out the importance of exercising one’s franchise.

The address will be both in Hindi and English and is slated for telecast on Doordarshan’s national network at 7.30 pm on Sunday and at 8 pm the same day on AIR’s Indraprastha, Rajdhani and Yuvavani channels. It would be also relayed by all the primary channel stations of AIR.

decoding="async" src="https://indian-express-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/themes/indianexpress/images/default-ie.jpg" data-lazy-type="lazyloading-image" data-src="https://data.indianexpress.com/election2019/track_1x1.jpg" data-lazy-src="https://data.indianexpress.com/election2019/track_1x1.jpg" alt="" width="1px" height="1px" style="display:none;">

This is the first time that a President has chosen to address the people before the parliamentary elections. The duration of the speech will be about 20 minutes.

Story continues below this ad

It must be noted that on the eve of Republic Day this year, the President had appealed to all eligible voters to exercise their franchise without fail, fear or favour in the Lok Sabha polls.

‘‘The right to vote is the greatest power given by the democracy to you so that you can reinforce further democratic values,’’ he had said.

According to Rashtrapati Bhavan sources, Kalam holds the view that an increased voter turnout is indicative of a vibrant democracy. A healthy voter turnout is also an indicator that the nation is moving in the direction of becoming a developed country by 2020.

The President has emphasised that every political party must clearly state their vision, action plan, and approaches for making India a developed country by 2020.