EC appoints ‘Newton’ actor Rajkummar Rao as National Icon

NEW DELHI: Actor Rajkummar Rao, whose portrayal of an official tasked with conducting polls in the Naxal-affected areas of Chhattisgarh in the Hindi film “Newton” won accolades, was on Thursday inducted as a National Icon by the Election Commission.

Facing youth and urban apathy with many preferring to stay home than turn up at polling stations to cast their votes, the EC appoints prominent Indians as national icons to motivate voters to participate in elections.

The poll panel comprising Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel exchanged a memorandum of understanding with Rao appointing him as an EC icon.

Asserting that it was necessary for young people to “immediately” get into the habit of exercising their franchise as voters, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Thursday said the poll panel will soon sign an agreement with the Education Ministry to inform students in class IX and above what democracy actually means. He said the Commission intends to start creating a nursery for voters at the school level itself.

“Right from their student days, their minds and understanding have to be inculcated about the important role of a voter in a democracy.

“Catching them young. They have turned 18 and have become a voter, but they are not very much aware of voting, ethos, magnitude. How to vote, whom to vote and what all considerations are to kept in mind -- that background is not ready,” he said. Kumar said through the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), the EC plans to get into the curriculum to ensure the roots of democracy get ingrained in the minds of the children. He made these remarks at an event to appoint actor Rajkumar Rao as the national icon of EC to spread voter awareness.