Don’t be surprised if you receive a call from cricket legend and Election Commission’s National Icon, Sachin Tendulkar, along with top cricketers from all 10 IPL teams, appealing to voters to cast their votes in large numbers in the upcoming phases.
Sources in the EC have expressed concern over voters’ apathy and heatwave in the Gangetic plains during the next three phases of polls. A fresh heatwave spell will also commence over east and central India from May 18.
Highlighting the various voter awareness drives and campaigns being carried out by stakeholders to reach out to voters, the poll body has enlisted IPL, PhonePe, and telecom service providers such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Bharti Airtel Limited, Jio Telecommunication, and Vodafone-Idea Ltd.
Additionally, they have partnered with Facebook, Google, WhatsApp, YouTube, Google Pay, and other platforms, as well as the Ministry of Railways, Civil Aviation, Department of Posts, banking networks, cinema theaters across the country, AMUL, Mother Dairy, and other milk cooperatives, music app Spotify, bike app Rapido, grocery app Blinkit, BookMyShow, food delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy, Tata Neu app, and Truecaller to encourage people in large numbers to cast their votes.
The EC said on Thursday the cumulative turnout in the first four phases of the Lok Sabha elections has been recorded at 66.95 per cent. Over 45.10 crore of the nearly 97 crore electors have voted so far in the ongoing electoral exercise, it said.
The poll body said the updated voter turnout in the fourth phase of polling held on May 13 was 69.16 per cent, 3.65 percentage points higher than the corresponding phase in the 2019 parliamentary polls.
The updated voter turnout figures for the third phase of polling in the Lok Sabha election stood at 65.68 per cent. In the third phase of the 2019 general election, the turnout was 68.4 per cent. In the second phase of the election held on April 26, the turnout was recorded at 66.71 per cent as against the 69.64 per cent in the second phase of the 2019 polls. In the first phase of the ongoing general elections, a 66.14-per cent turnout was recorded. In the 2019 polls, the turnout in the first phase was 69.43 per cent.
As a part of its outreach to increase the voter turnout, the EC has introduced an array of various interventions, to appeal and motivate voters to cast their vote, during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The poll body has enhanced its targeted interventions to reach out to every eligible voter.
The poll body has collaborated with BCCI for voter awareness activities during the ongoing IPL season. The voter awareness messages and songs are being played at different stadiums during the cricket matches. The most innovative aspect of this campaign is the administration of voter’s pledge by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, in a pre-recorded video message, at various IPL venues. Further, voter awareness messages are integrated into cricket commentary. Cricketers from 10 IPL teams have encouraged voters to participate in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 with their recorded voter awareness messages.
Telecom Service Providers such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Bharti Airtel Limited, Jio Telecommunication, Vodafone-Idea Ltd. are reaching out to every mobile user in the respective Parliamentary Constituency through push SMS/ Flash SMSs, Outbound dialling calls to mobile users, RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging and Whatsapp messages/ alerts. These activities are carried out two/ three days prior to the poll and even on the poll day, in regional languages, with an appeal to vote.
The poll body said Music App Spotify is running a campaign ‘Play Your Part’, and they have issued print advertisements, and curated the playlists for the elections, on their app.
Payments app PhonePe has integrated voter awareness messages in their app and is actively encouraging voters. Grocery App Blinkit changed its logo to “Inkit” for the elections, incorporating a message encouraging people to “Go out and Vote” as a tagline.
BookMyShow has launched an integrated campaign, titled “Aaj Picture Nahi, Bigger Picture Dekho,” for raising awareness among voters. MakeMyTrip is running a campaign titled ‘MyVoteWalaTrip’, whereby discounts are offered to citizens, going for voting. Food delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy are disseminating voter awareness messages through their platforms and social media activities.
A voting day alert was sent to all Facebook users pan India to inform and inform the voters about the general elections and to nudge them to participate in the festival of democracy. WhatsApp personalised messages have begun on polling day. Google India is contributing through its iconic feature of Google Doodle on poll days and banners appearing on YouTube, Google pay and other Google Platforms.
Vast network of post offices and banking institutions was utilised by EC to reach out to a wide and diverse audience across the length and breadth of the country. The Department of Post has over 1.6 lakhs post offices and 1,000 ATMs and 1,000 digital screens. There are over 1.63 lakh bank branches and 2.2 lakh ATMs across public and private sector banking institutions.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the Parliamentary elections campaign logo “Chunav ka Parv, Desh Ka Garv” has been integrated with IRCTC portal and tickets.
Voter awareness announcements have been integrated in the Public Address System at all railway stations. The logo stickers are used in coaches of the superfast trains.
