In a first-of-its-kind pan-India initiative by the poll watchdog, the Election Commission of India has joined hands with Facebook to remind Indian voters to register themselves on the electoral rolls.
From July 1 to 4, a voter registration reminder will be sent to people who are eligible to vote in India, on Facebook. Facebook will activate a unique ‘Register Now’ button for its Indian users who are eligible to vote.
The voter registration reminder will be available for four days starting July 1 and will be in 13 languages - English, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, Assamese, Marathi and Odiya.
The ‘Register Now’ button will guide users to National Voters’ Services Portal, where they can register themselves as voters. By clicking on it, the eligible voters would be directed to the National Voters’ Services Portal (NVSP) for registration.
During Presidential elections in USA, Facebook had initiated a similar concept to register new voters for the polls.
While Facebook had earlier implemented such features during state elections of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, and Manipur, in 2017, for the first time a pan-India drive is being carried out.
The Election Commission is hoping to reach over 180 million Indians on Facebook through this drive. “This special drive is to enrol left out electors, with a particular focus on first time electors,” said CEC Nasim Zaidi.
Commenting on scheduled launch of “Voter Registration Reminder” by Facebook for the first time in India, Ankhi Das, Facebook’s Public Policy Director for India, South and Central Asia, said “People use Facebook to learn, talk and get involved with issues that matter to them. We want to build engagements that support this type of civic engagement - on Election Day and every day. We believe that democracies are stronger when more people are engaged - that’s why we are encouraging everyone who is eligible to register to vote and connecting them with resources.”