Active Citizenship Labs

Campaign on Election Awareness in Urban Areas

The 2019 general election saw the highest national voter turnout at 67.36%. But even in that year, urban voter turnout was 5.2% lower than the turnout in rural areas. In fact, some of the wealthiest constituencies in India witness the lowest voting turnouts.

Elections form the very base of democracy. By not participating, we run the risk of becoming politically irrelevant. Urban voters need to engage with the democratic process to make it work better for them.

Many different issues seem to hold back voters, some born out of misconceptions about the voter registration process and some out of cynicism regarding the political process and one’s ability to make a difference.

This is where we need your help.


 

What can we do about it?

 
To address the misconceptions and the cynicism(!), YLAC and Instagram have come together to create a toolkit that offers a detailed and easy to understand guide on voter registration, resources for finding candidate related information including records of previous parliamentary performance, as well as tips on detecting fake news.

Join us in this mission to increase awareness among urban voters. Use the toolkit and conduct a session in your office, college or neighbourhood!

Materials needed

 
The toolkit is self-explanatory and includes speaker notes with each slide. It is available for you to download below. We anticipate that the session will take roughly 30-45 minutes. All you need is a projector or an LCD screen.

If internet is available, you can encourage people to check their names in the electoral rolls or register on the spot. You can also help them see the parliamentary performance of their current MP in Lok Sabha.
 


Posting guidelines

 
Please post pictures from your voter awareness sessions on social media to help spread the word about this campaign. The toolkit is free for anyone to download; please encourage your friends to access it as well and conduct information sessions at their workplaces, universities etc. It’ll be great if you can keep the following in mind while posting:

Use the hashtags #ActiveCitizenship and #VoterAwareness while sharing any visuals, pictures etc., and tag us on Instagram and Facebook.
 


 

Download the toolkit now!