Actor Rajkummar Rao to be appointed Election Commission’s national icon.

Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Thursday appointed actor Rajkummar Rao as one of their ‘National Icons’ ahead of five assembly elections this year, and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The ECI’s move comes in the backdrop of the actor’s iconic role from a few years ago when he played a government employee on election duty in the movie ‘Newton’.

In the movie, Rao’s character as a polling booth official in a Chhattisgarh town tries hard to conduct free and fair elections despite various obstacles, including threats from Naxals.

More than 161 million people in five states across India will vote in assembly elections next month, the Election Commission of India announced earlier this month.

During the event in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and election commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel exchanged a memorandum of understanding with Rao. The ECI designates notable individuals as ‘national idols’ to excite voters and combat indifference among youth and urban dwellers who prefer to stay at home rather than vote.