Voter Education & Awareness Ways & Means

Objective To sensitize the voters about the importance of participation in an electoral process to ensure a responsive, accountable and democratically elected government.

Objectives To persuade minorities, the homeless, disabled persons, and many others who lack access to the vote for a variety of reasons including poverty, illiteracy, intimidation, or unfair election processes to participate in the election process. To ensure that people understand their right as voters and exercise that right with full knowledge and responsibility. To educate the voter about the importance of vote in democratic country like India by voting for a suitable and right candidate.

Objectives To impart knowledge on voting procedure. To educate them about the importance and use of Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) in different Government Schemes, Passport Preparation and Opening Bank Accounts etc. To encourage the voters to participate in the democracy by enrolling themselves in the Electoral Rolls and voting at the time of Election.

Components of Voter education and awareness Voter Information and awareness. Electoral education. Civic education. Each set of activity represents a continuum of educational activities in support of elections and democracy and are mutually reinforcing.

Key aspects to be covered under Voter information and awareness Election Process Political parties and their manifestoes. Antecedents of candidates.

Election process Importance of voting in an election. Enrolment as a voter and knowledge of Electoral roll. EPIC cards. Polling process-Process of identification, directions of polling staff, tendered votes etc. Awareness about EVM’s and how to cast votes on EVM’s. Basic knowledge about electoral offences and various do’s and don’ts. Basics of Model code of conducts and the rights of citizens covered under MCC like prevention of defacement of private property, abuse of loudspeakers etc.

Political parties Imparting knowledge about key components of election manifestoes of political parties. An arena best left out to political parties and civil society. Facilitation by providing an equitable, fair and transparent opportunity to all political parties and independent candidates to explain their developmental agenda at any forum example electronic and print media.

Antecedents of the candidates By putting the antecedents of the candidates including their declarations in public domain quickly. Generally difficult due to narrow gap between finalization of list of candidates and actual polling. As electoral authorities we can facilitate the process by prompt publication of the information in local press, mass media and web. Role of NGO’s/CBO’s is important to make the people aware about assessing the poll worthiness of a candidate

Electoral education Implies education of future voters. Should ideally start in schools. Should cover aspects like voter motivation and preparedness to participate in the electoral process, voting and electoral process, link between basic human rights and voting rights; the role, responsibilities and rights of voters; the relationship between elections and democracy and the conditions necessary for democratic elections; secrecy of the ballot; why each vote is important and its impact on public accountability; and how votes translate into seats. Needs a long time and should be done on an ongoing basis.

Civic education Larger concept- Involves education on the structure of government, rights and duties of a citizen, constitution, judiciary etc. Electoral education can be made part and parcel of the civic education. Should be carried out through the schools and university system and using civil society organizations.

Experience sharing- Lok Sabha elections 2009 District Solan

Brief statistics No of assembly constituencies: 5, part of Shimla PC. Voters: 3,39,365: 1,71,663 Male, 1,57,702 females. Polling stations: 516. Voter turnout: 61.35% in 2009 up from 55.05% in 2004.

Reaching out to Young voters College teachers involved in creating awareness about elector registration in association with Election staff in various colleges prior to elections during the summary revision programme of electoral rolls. Voters education awareness programmes were conducted in the schools, colleges and other education institutions in which EVMs were demonstrated among the students and they were also briefed regarding preparation of electoral rolls and prevailing forms for enrollment, deletion and correction of names.

GRAM SABHAS Booth Level Officers were directed to attend the Gram Sabha meetings to read out the relevant part of voter lists and create awareness among the people to enroll their names in the voter lists. As per the directions of ECI, Training and demonstration programmes about the functioning and operation of EVMs at all the Gram Sabhas as well as Village to Village were conducted at ARO level by forming teams of 4-5 officials. Wide publicity about the demonstration was done prior to date through loud speaker announcements (Publicity Vans). This was received very well by rural voters.

COMMUNITY BASED ORGANISATIONS/ NGOS Himachal Pradesh society has a very well structured NGO/CBO’s at village level like Mahila mandals, yuvak mandals, SHG’s. These Community Based Organizations / NGOs were made aware of each and every campaign related to elections and they played a vital role in creating awareness among the general public.

GOVT. OFFICIALS Himachal Pradesh has a relatively very high percentage of government employees. As such a sizeable chunk of voters are either govt employees or their relatives. Through a series of meetings/workshops prior to the elections, they were made aware of the process of preparation of electoral rolls and voter registration. Demonstration on the operation of EVMs were conducted in major Govt. Offices such as DC Office, HPPWD, I&PH, ITI etc.

MASS MEDIA A slide showing the programme of EPIC campaign and electoral registration was flashed on the local cable network to inform the general public. Interviews with Local cable operators on various aspects of elections.

FM Radio FM radio used as to means to apprise the prospective voters about electoral registration, election programme, Do’s and dont’s during the polling, list of identification documents required during the time of polling etc. A radio interview was also conducted to facilitate the people about the entire process.

PRINT MEDIA The pamphlets, posters etc were distributed to Gram Panchayats, Mahila Mandal, Yuwak Mandals, school and in colleges. Electoral Rolls verification done by the BLOs during door to door survey also creates awareness amongst the general public.

LOCAL PRESS Wide publicity of each and every stage related to elections was done for creating awareness among the general public through press notes published in local newspapers and by inserting pamphlets and voting guides in local papers.

GENERAL AWARENESS Electoral Rolls/ Prevailing forms / EVMs were also demonstrated to the general public at prominent places of towns so that one can have a feel of the functioning of EVMs.

Role of Political parties Meetings were held regularly with the Polling Parties. Their Booth Level Agents were involved to compliment the BLOs in making the Electoral Rolls error free and up-to-date and creates awareness among the voters for enrollment of their names in the Electoral Rolls.

1077 Toll free help line was used extensively to guide the general public regarding various aspects of the electoral process. Sugam centre counters were used for voter registration effectively.

Role of industrial associations Solan is an industrial district having a very large number of industrial units. Many industrial workers though being ordinarily resident of the area are deprived of their right to vote due to lack of awareness. This gets exploited for partisan interests. Local industrial associations help was taken to disseminate literature on voter registration in various local industrial units. Enforcement of local holiday on polling day under Negotiable instruments act by using the help of industrial associations.

Learning points- Way forward

Voter awareness should be a continuous process instead of a one off exercise. After the election process sets in, there is not much time left for this exercise. Involvement of Industrial associations/ other organizations. Seminars should be organized at all the Industrial Units where young generation is in working class.

Voter’s Education Awareness Programmes should be conducted on a regular basis in the senior secondary schools, colleges and other Educational Institutions. Electoral process and EVM awareness should be included as a part of the curriculum. Organizing debates and competitions in schools/ universities should also be encouraged.

Using posters, slides in movie halls and SMS to get the “Please Vote’’ message across. Mock election process can be conducted by providing computers and touch screens kiosks asking voters to vote.

By organizing Nukkad nataks, puppet shows, individual discussions, group meetings etc.

By taking help of citizen groups, Mahila Mandals/ Yuwak Mandals and NGOs by holding meetings in their local area, to consider debate and discuss jointly what are the important issues before us, which require to be met, and what are we as citizens looking for. They can invite the candidates for an open meeting, and assess their abilities and their track record.

Thank you