Ranchi: Two capital school-boys won the first-ever National Election Quiz organised by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Madhur Jain and Aditya Kumar, both Class XII science students of Delhi Public Sch-ool, Ranchi, received Rs 1 lakh cash prize, mementos and certificates from chief election co-mmissioner of India A.K. Jyoti.

"The quiz was organised by the election commission to make schoolchildren aware of the democratic system in the country," said state's chief electoral officer L. Khiangte.

Designed and developed as part of ECI's Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation programme and based on the theme 'Empowering young and future electors', the all-India quiz was held in several stages over the last two months.

"We first cleared the intra-school round and then qualified for the district-level. We subsequently cleared the state and zonal levels before reaching the finals," said Aditya from Delhi.

Thirty six teams from 29 states and seven Union territories qualified for the zonal championship, out of which six teams reached the finals.

Students had to face tricky questions on a range of topics like electoral process, history of elections, different electoral systems and election management bodies.

"We were asked the author's name of An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of The Great Indian Election. Thankfully we knew the answer, which is SY Kuraishi, former chief election commissioner of India," said Madhur.

Lauding the boys' win, state's chief electoral officer L. Khiangte said, "We had asked Ranchi district election office to educate the boys on the Election Commission of India for a brief period. It's the hardwork of the boys that finally paid off."

The feat of the capital kids was indeed a proud moment for the principal and faculty members of DPS Ranchi.

"It was an absolute pleasure to see our boys win the quiz," said DPS teacher Amit Pandey.

"Our boys were well prepared, thanks to the state election commission," said principal Ram Singh.

The semi-final and final rounds of the quiz are likely to be telecast by Rajya Sabha TV in the coming days.

Heritage focus

Oxford Public School in Ranchi will host the 17th CBSE Heritage India Quiz on its campus on Friday. Ranchi University pro vice chancellor Kamini Kumar will be present as the chief guest.