EC partners Facebook to encourage voters to register for upcoming elections

Indian government and the administration have never been this tech savvy. Making all the right moves to tap the potential of increasing digitization in the country, the Election Commission of India has partnered with Facebook to encourage the youth to participate in the upcoming Assembly polls.

The social networking giant with its 148 million monthly active users in India, has collaborated with the commission to run a voter registration drive for Indian users.

In this first of its kind initiative, Facebook will run the voter registration drive in five Indian states, which are set to go to polls next year- Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand.

“Election commission in collaboration with Facebook is conducting a special drive in Uttarakhand to register young people as voters who will attain the age of 18 years on January 1, 2017. I appeal to people from all walks of life to register as voters through the process,” said Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi.

A reminder to register their names for the elections will appear on the timeline of all Facebook users aged 18 and above in these states from October 6 to 9.

By clicking on the ‘register now’ button, users will be directed to the National Voters’ Services Portal, which will guide them through the registration process. The feature will be available for people on Facebook in Punjab on the October 6, for those in Manipur on October 7, for people in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh on October 8 and for people in Goa on October 9.