State poll panel selects 5 sportspersons as icons

Ranchi: The state election commission has roped in five sportspersons from the state as its icons.
Veteran mountaineer Bachendri Pal, former hockey player and Dhyan Chand awardee Slyvanus Dung Dung, former women’s hockey captain Asunta Lakra and national squad member Nikki Pradhan, cricketer Saurabh Tiwary have been roped in as ambassadors to promote Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) activities .
Apart from the sportspersons, Ranchi based theatre artist Ajay Malkani was also brought on board. The six were among 11 personalities from various fields, whose names were proposed to the Election Commission of India by the state chief electoral officer.
Explaining the role of these new icons, Ranchi deputy commissioner Manoj Kumar, said, “We will involve them in mass programmes to enroll names in the voting list and approach for correction in case of errors in name or address. It will be through jingles, video films, posters or other kinds of media forms.”
Dung Dung, who has been a district icon for Ranchi, said, “I will continue motivating people to use their right to vote for a better people-friendly leader.”
“As of now, I can encourage my fellow mates to utilize the power of voter identity card. Once, I am back to my hometown Khunti, I will continue to encourage my natives,” Pradhan said.
Bachendri Pal, the first woman to reach Mount Everest in 1984 and chief of Tata steel adventure foundation during a telephonic conversation from Jamshedpur said, “Till date, I have been ensuring the participation of my mountaineering students in exercising voting rights. Now, I will make sure that every youngster casts his or her vote because youth is the future of our nation.”
Malkani, an alumnus of National School of Drama, New Delhi and faculty member of Marwari College who is probably the first artist from Jharkhand to receive such an honour said, “My 40 years of experience with theatre will now pay off as an ambassador of state election commission.”
“If required, I am ready to host street plays, multimedia clippings, video-films and reel shows on behalf of the chief electoral office in Jharkhand attracting a large number of voters,” he added.
Earlier, Olympian archer Deepika Kumari served as ambassador of state’s election wing from 2014 to 2015. Indian ODI and T20 captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was appointed ambassador during the 2014 Lok Sabha election.