The legendary Sachin Tendulkar will be recognised as a National Icon by the Election Commission of India with the former captain set to motivate citizens to vote.
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar is gearing up for a new innings with the legendary India batter set to be named as a ‘National Icon’ by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
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Tendulkar will join hands with the national election body to create awareness and educate the citizens of the country to vote.
“Cricket legend and Bharat Ratna awardee Shri Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar would begin a new innings – as the ‘National Icon’ for voter awareness and education for the Election Commission of India,” ECI said in a statement on their official website.
Tendulkar will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ECI for a period of three years during an event to be held at the Rang Bhavan, Akashvani in the national capital on Wednesday.
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Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Shri Anup Chandra Pandey and Shri Arun Goel will also be present at the occassion.
ECI hopes to leverage Tendulkar’s popularity among the Indian youth to increase “voters’ participation in the forthcoming elections, especially in General Elections 2024.”
Tendulkar is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters to have played the game. He retired from international cricket as its most prolific run-getter in history and remains the only batter to have scored 100 centuries.
Tendulkar realised is childhood dream of winning an ODI World Cup in 2011 when India defeated Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium to become the first team in history to win the title at home.
In 2013, Tendulkar retired from IPL as well with Mumbai Indians winning their first ever title. He though remains associated with cricket in various capacities and has even captained the India Legends in the annual Road Safety World Series – a T20 tournament created to raise awareness about road safety.
ECI has in the past associated itself with renowned Indians from different fields and designates them as ‘National Icons’ to motivate voters.
Actor Pankaj Tripathi was named as the National Icon last year.
For the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, two-time world cup winning captain MS Dhoni, six-time world boxing champion Mary Kom and actor Aamir Khan were appointed as the ECI National Icons.
