BOLLYWOOD actor Pankaj Tripathi has been made the 'National Icon' of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday.

"ECI launches Radio series - #Matdata Junction in collaboration with Akashvani AIR for voter awareness. Actor and State Icon Shri Pankaj Tripathi declared ECI’s National Icon," said ECI in a tweet.

Meanwhile, addressing the gathering at the event, CEC Rajiv Kumar said that "the program Matdata Junction, produced in collaboration with All India Radio, will be a strong platform to connect with the voters across the country. The program as a combination of information and entertainment would specifically help address urban apathy and inform the audience about the election processes in the conduct of free, fair, transparent, inducement free, accessible and inclusive elections in an interactive communication format."

He also lauded Tripathi, who was earlier the state icon of Bihar, for his commitment to the cause and wide appeal across the country, and announced him as the National Icon for the Election Commission of India.

Meanwhile, the Mirzapur actor recalled his memories of becoming a first-time voter and how that process did not only give him the "right of Matdan (voting) but also Samman (respect) as a contributory voice in democracy". During the event, he also urged the youth of the country to actively participate in the elections in order to "reflect their democratic choices and make their voices heard".

Meanwhile, the 'Matdata Junction: Har voter ka apna station’ will be a 15 minutes programme by All India Radio and will be broadcast every Friday during 7- 9 PM slot on All India Radio network covering 25 FM stations, 4 FM Gold stations, 42 Vividh Bharati stations, and 159 primary channels/local radio stations in 23 languages, i.e., Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili, and Dogri, said ECI in a statement.

Recommended For You

"The 52 episode series will cover various aspects of election and related processes from voters’ perspective," the statement added.

Pankaj Tripathi hails from Bihar and became popular after his show, Mirzapur. His latest OTT show-Criminal Justice Adhura Sach- is currently streaming on Hotstar and the last episode will stream this Friday. Apart, from this he will also be sharing the screen with Akshay Kumar in his upcoming film OMG Oh My God 2.


Also In News