ECI remains keenly focussed on enhancing voter turn out

Election Commission of India has doubled up its voter participation interventions to overcome the small drop in turnout in the first two phases of Lok Sabha polls. The turnout so far has been 66.14% in phase 1 and 66.71% in phase 2, which seen against electoral participation history in India is among the best but somewhat lags the high benchmarks of 2019. The turnout of voters continues to remain at the centre of ECI’s election management efforts.

ECI remains committed to take up all interventions possible to boost voter turnout in next 5 phases. Commission led by CEC Shri Rajiv Kumar, EC Shri Gyanesh Kumar and EC Shri Sukhbir Singh Sandhu is leading a set of additional initiatives for this purpose with Chief Electoral Officers and senior officers at Nirvachan Sadan.

A remarkable feature of the SVEEP campaigns personally led by CEC Shri Rajiv Kumar has been the pro-bono collaborations by major departments, corporates, celebrities, and organisations. The Commission during the last one year has energetically run its flagship programme Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) pushing hard all three parts of it: information, motivation, and facilitation, more so in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. States and districts have taken up a range of local specific interventions to boost citizen participation under Turn Out Implementation (TIP) plan targeting low turnout constituencies. Some of the mass campaigns that resonated in recent weeks across the country are at Annexure A.

Commission is disappointed with the turnout level in some metropolitan cities in phase 2 polls, a pointer to the rigid levels of apathy in India’s high-tech city. Cities in NCR have fared no better. ECI last month assembled many metro Commissioners in Delhi to work out a strategy to fight urban apathy. An exclusive action plan has been taken up. The Commission hopes that urban centres going to polls in next phases turn the tide. Commission will constantly follow up with concerned city administrations.

Following the dip in turnout in phase 1, Commission had directed state CEOs of Maharashtra, Bihar, UP and Rajasthan and Karnataka to come up with additional set of plans to enhance voter turnout. The Commission also held one to one interaction with DEOs of low turnout districts (based on 2019 figures) in phases 3 and 4 to identify ways for enhancing turnout.

ECI already held meeting with top IMD experts, health and disaster management agencies to consider the impact of heatwave on the election process, especially voters’ turnout during phase 3. As per the empirical evidence provided by IMD, there is no major concern with regard to heat wave for phase 3 of the General Elections scheduled on May, 7, 2024. The weather forecast situation is predicted to be normal in the 11 States/UTs going for polls in Phase 3.

A comprehensive specific set of advisories are in place to make sure that voters are extended the best possible comfort in hot weather.

The Commission attaches due importance to timely release of voter turnout figures after each phase of the polls. Disclosures and transparency are standard practices in ECI’s work. As per statutory requirements, voter turnout is to be recorded at every polling station in absolute numbers in Form 17C. As a strong measure of transparency, the copies of Form 17C, duly signed by Presiding Officer and all present polling agents, are shared with all present polling agents. Thus, leave alone Constituency, even booth wise data of actual number of votes polled is available with the candidates, which is a statutory requirement.

As a disclosure initiative for other stakeholders and media, State/PC/AC wise tentative turnout figures are made available through ECI Voter Turnout app which is regularly updated. The Commission is committed to provide voter turnout figures timely that is useful for media and other stakeholders in the coming phases.

Annexure A

In the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Election Commission of India has launched its biggest ever voter awareness and outreach drive for enhanced participation in the General Elections 2024. As part of this targeted outreach initiatives, various public and private sector organisations have collaborated with the Commission on a pro-bono basis. A judicious mixture of paid advertising, advocacy and partnerships with celebrities has driven this initiative.

Taking a cue from CEC Rajiv Kumar’s clarion call to youth to vote and become Election Ambassadors, ECI’s social media cell has started a social media campaign “I am Election Ambassador”. Any one on social media including content creators, influencers and celebrities can share creative reels and memes to promote the cause. Popular influencers and individual content creators have already joined in with their creatives. Users can share their creatives and content with hashtags #MainBhiElectionAmbassador. Good entries will get featured on ECI social media platforms.

The Commission is thankful to various partners and collaborators for their initiatives and efforts towards voter awareness and enhanced participation. Some of the initiatives are as follows:

1. In collaboration with the BCCI, voter awareness messages and songs are being played at different stadiums during IPL 2024. Standees are displayed, and voter awareness messages are integrated into cricket commentary. Cricketers from the 10 IPL teams encouraged voters to participate in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 with recorded voter awareness messages, which are being shared on ECI social media platforms. A voter’s pledge by cricket legend and ECI National Icon, Sachin Tendulkar, in a pre-recorded video message, is being administered at various IPL venues.
2. A voting day alert was sent to all Facebook users pan India to inform and aware the voters about the General Elections and also to nudge them to participate in the festival of democracy.
3. Vast network of post offices and banking institutions was utilised by ECI to reach out to a wide and diverse audience across the length and breadth of the country.
   1. Department of Post has over 1.6 lakhs post offices and 1000 ATMs and 1000 digital screens
   2. There are over 1.63 lakh bank branches and 2.2 lakh ATMs across public and private sector banking institutions.
4. In collaboration with the Ministry of Railways, the Parliamentary Elections campaign logo “Chunav ka Parv, Desh Ka Garv” has been integrated with IRCTC portal and tickets, SVEEP creatives are being displayed at railway stations and railway station announcements are including voter awareness messages. The logo stickers are also used in coaches.
5. In collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, hoardings on voter awareness have been installed in about 16,000 retail petrol pumps.
6. In collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, airlines are making an inflight announcement with an appeal message to participate in the ensuing elections. Voter guides are being kept in aircraft seat pockets. Apart from this, many airports are providing space for display of voter awareness messages. Selfie-points have been installed at airports in 10 major cities in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Patna, Chandigarh, etc.
7. Cinema theatres across the country are playing ECI voter awareness films and ECI Song Main Bharat Hoon, Hum Bharat Ke Matdata Hai on regular intervals, as a part of Public Service awareness (PSA) film.
8. AMUL and Mother Dairy have started branding their milk pouches with the message ‘Chunav Ka Parv, Desh ka Garv’ and also encouraging voters through social media platforms. AMUL is also encouraging voters with its unique messaging through AMUL Girl Topical advertisement in Newspapers.
9. Sansad TV is creating short films on Unique Polling Stations setup in remote corners of the country by the election machinery after navigating difficult terrain have been produced to demonstrate the challenges in ensuring voting at the last mile.
10. Telecom Operators such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Bharti Airtel Limited, Jio Telecommunication, Vodafone-Idea Ltd. are also contributing in voter awareness activities by sending SMSs through the well-connected mobile network across the country.
11. Music App Spotify, and bike app Rapido have been onboarded for voter awareness messages across their platforms and channels wherein Spotify has created a “Election Playlist” to motivate voters, and Rapido is encouraging voters with a free ride for voting.
12.  Food delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy have also partnered with ECI for disseminating voter awareness messages in their unique style.
13. A comprehensive 360-degree multimedia campaign is underway with the theme “Chunav ka Parv, Desh ka Garv.” The campaign includes:

1. TV Commercials: Celebrity endorsements featuring national icon Sachin Tendulkar, Rajkummar Rao, as well as actors Ayushmann Khurrana and Vijay Varma, alongside non-celebrity TVCs. Additionally, short films and videos are being produced by DD for social media and its channels.
2. Print Media: Major newspapers are publishing advertisements ranging from strip, quarter, half to full-page formats which has commenced from April 1, 2024.
3. Radio: Radio jingle, Vox pop programmes, RJ Mention, Celebrity interviews, influencer engagement, and social media messaging are being done on various radio stations’ platforms.
4. Social media: Trendy and explanatory videos are being created by popular social media platforms, in collaboration with the Election Commission of India (ECI). The “My Vote My Duty” montage and individual films, along with TVCs, are being shared across social media platforms, featuring national icons.
5. Outdoor Campaign: Train wrapping initiatives are commenced with Indian Railways, with plans for further paid outdoor campaigns.
6. Public Broadcaster: It is running creative thematic content on various channels of DD and AIR along with L-band branding, mug branding, Chunav ka Parv, Desh ka Garv logo bug has been incorporated through shows.

Apart from these, independent initiatives have also been taken by different institutions, such as

1. NDTV has launched the #NDTV18KaVote campaign to make youth aware of the need to vote and encourage voters aged 18 to show their strength in the 18th Lok Sabha election. Further, Dainik Jagran is bringing unique poll stories from ground. Doordarshan, Akashvani and Sansad TV have also initiated various programmes and informative content for the ongoing General Elections 2024.
2. Times of India group has launched a campaign called ‘Power of the Print’ calling for entries on voter awareness from creative agencies and designers.
3. Payments app PhonePe has also integrated voter awareness message in their app and is actively encouraging voters.
4. Youth organisations such as India International Movement to Unite Nations (IIMUN) have also contributed to increasing voter awareness and education among the youth of the country.