The Election Commission of India (ECI) has named National Award-winning actor Pankaj Tripathi as its National Icon. On Monday, during an event in Delhi, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar shared how Tripathi has been actively involved in voter awareness programmes. While complimenting the actor for his association with the poll panel in creating awareness among voters, CEC Kumar announced that Tripathi was chosen keeping in view his commitment to the cause and wide appeal across the country.

Talking about his association with the awareness campaign, Tripathi said, “I am thankful to the ECI for selecting me as its National Icon, and I’m really humbled to be the first such icon from Bihar. CEC Rajiv Kumar asked me if I’d like to be a part of the initiative and I readily agreed. We are yet to complete all the formalities, but I’ll try my best to fulfil this responsibility and do the task I’ve been assigned.”

At the event, the Mirzapur actor shared, “I am also a common voter. I cancel my shoot if it falls on a voting day. The task of reaching out to the masses via radio or TV to inform them about their voting rights is something I do even in my personal capacity. Kisi ek vyakti ko pakad ke samjhane lagta hoon voting ke baare mein. A couple of days back, I met one of my colleagues who is a known actor and I’ll not name him, but during our conversation I realized that he is not that aware about the power of voting. I asked him, 'Why don’t you vote?'. I was really shocked to know that he doesn’t vote, because I come from Bihar, where everyone – irrespective of their level of education – is quite aware about their voting rights.”

Recalling the time when he cast his vote for the first time, Tripathi said that the process not only gave him the right of matdan (voting) but also samman (respect) as a voice that has a say in democracy. 

Sharing an incident, he said, “When I was a kid, in our village any kind of motor vehicle was a rare sight, and we used to run after the vehicles when we’d spot them once in three-four months. But during elections, three-four candidates used to campaign in cars every day. While as kids we used to chase those election campaign vehicles for pamphlets and badges, as we grew up a little, we would feel humiliated to chase the cars for pamphlets. When we became eligible to vote, something changed. Ab iss baar jab chunav ka samay aaya aur ab wohi 6-7 dost soche ki ab iss baar gaadi ke peechhe daudna nahi hai. Aur is baar woh gaadi hamare saamne aa kar ruki aur karyakarta bole, ‘Namaste, aap log kya naye voter hain?' Un logon ne jhanda, badge, pamphlet diya. Chunav ne na keval matdan ka avsar (opportunity) diya, balki samman bhi diya.”

Commenting on Tripathi’s selection, CEC Rajiv Kumar said, “We are grateful to Pankaj Tripathi for several reasons. Hum sabke (ECI) saath jo unka judaav hai woh nishulk (devoid of monetary transaction) hai. He didn’t charge us anything. He speaks to people with such modesty not just in life but even on screen that everyone feels an immediate connection with him. Actor wala aura nahi dikhate hain. He has this bond with our voters. Pankaj Tripathi hamare voters ki shaql, surat, seerat aur samvad hain. We are very happy to be associated with him. Up until now, he was associated with the Election Commission of India as the State Icon of Bihar, because of his popularity, now we have made him our National Icon.”

The ECI officials mentioned that Tripathi has done a lot of work to generate awareness among voters. Sharing an incident, an official said, “Once we reached out to him for a voter education video, he was filming in a jungle where they had no network. so he got the message a day later. Then he shot the video with available equipment at the shoot location and uploaded the video two days later when he had internet connectivity. He didn’t need to go to that length to film that video, but he did. There have been several such occasions when he was busy, but he took out time to educate voters.”

The official added, “We will be using Tripathi’s services in a big way not just for the 2024 general elections but also for state Assembly elections. We will also request him to work with us for new voter registration campaigns as he is immensely popular among the youth.”

An official said, “National Icon of the ECI is chosen after a lot of consideration as the person should not be affiliated with any political party.” Earlier, Aamir Khan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Jasbir Jassi were named National Icons of the ECI.