A new dawn of e-governance has arrived in India, powered by social media.
For the first time ever, Election Commission has partnered with Facebook to run voter registration drive across 5 Indian states, where elections would be held in next year. In of the rare collaboration for e-governance, Facebook users who are 18 years or older can now register for vote by clicking one button on their timeline.
This is a major step for the world’s largest democracy, where low turnout of votes often encourage criminals and anti-social elements to come into power. And, this is for the first time ever that social media is being used for such an important democratic function.
Register for Vote on Facebook
5 Indian states would go for polls next year: UP, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Punjab. And there are 155 million Facebook users all over India.
Combining these two facts, Election Commission of India has decided to use the massive reach of social media users to encourage them to register for voting.
Using age as demographic targeting, Facebook would show ‘Register to Vote’ button to youths across these 5 states, and encourage them to vote.
Once clicked, the user would be directed to the National Voters’ Services Portal, wherein they can register themselves as voters for these forthcoming state elections.
Facebook users from Punjab can view this new feature from October 6th, Manipur users from October 7th, Uttarakhand and UP from October 8th and Goan users from October 9th.
Besides, the users from these states would be receiving notifications and reminders to get registered to vote.
Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi said, “Youth is the future of India and it is very important that they take part in the biggest democratic exercise of elections,”
Confirming this development, Ankhi Das, Director, Public Policy, Facebook India, said, “Every day we see the power of connecting people in big and small ways. We have a unique ability and responsibility to show people this reminder and deliver relevant information on where to vote.”
Special emphasis would be given to those youths, who are turning 18 years on January 1, 2017, so that new blood can take part in the democratic process of India, and serve their responsibility.
Kudos to both Facebook and Election Commission to use social media as an e-governance tool, and enable more participation from the youths in the election process.
EC is completely incompetent to do its job. My family has been trying to get registered as voter for last 15 years without success. We have submitted all forms and documents multiple times but it is never done. Last time we did not try it – just bored of trying.
Registration is done only when a local election is due so it is only after 3-4 years. Its online system is also flawed because after taking all details, it directs the person to visit same local BLO who fails to register in the first place. After reading the following line, I am sure same thing will be repeated:
“Once clicked, the user would be directed to the National Voters’ Services Portal …”
When I go to register, I find so many older people trying to get their name registered at all registration centers. They also complain how many times they have submitted the forms.
It would be better, if EC that spends hundreds of crores on advertising to urge people to vote spend a small amount of it to improve its registration process.
On the other hand, it was very easy to register in Aadhar. Even now there are many offices in the same city where Aadhar registration is done all day long throughout the year.
What facebook wanted to achieve through free basic it has done so now through the backdoor .