If you are a voter in Tamil Nadu and a fan of Ravichandran Ashwin or
Dinesh Karthik, a simple tweet can help you pocket an e-postcard signed
by your favourite cricketer. All you need to do is upload on Twitter a
selfie that shows your finger marked with indelible ink to prove that
you have voted on May 16, the day the southern state goes to the polls.
Twitter has created a unique emoji of a finger with the black dot, and
has signed an agreement with the chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu
to create voter awareness and give voting-day reminders to its users.
Rajesh Lakhani, the state's chief electoral officer, told ET Magazine: "Roping in Facebook and Twitter is one of the many strategies adopted by us to reach our target of 80% turnout in Tamil Nadu — seven percentage points higher than that of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. We have launched voter-awareness campaigns through milk packets, shopping bags, paintings and sand sculptures."
Raheel Khursheed, head of news, politics and government partnerships, Twitter India, says social media played a pivotal role in bringing people out to vote in the 2014 general elections, and then in Delhi and Bihar assembly polls. "Based on user response, 2014 Lok Sabha elections can be called India's first Twitter election... Tamil Nadu poll is not going to be different," he says.
Poll push
Tamil Nadu is not the only state that has launched innovative campaigns to woo voters on D-Day. Assam which had 84.72% turnout during the recent assembly poll — the highest ever in any election in the state, assembly or Lok Sabha — began a voter-awareness programme as early as October last year. The Election Commission (EC) called the programme Systematic Voters' Education & Electoral Participation (SVEEP). Under SVEEP, there were puppet shows, street plays and prizes for first-time voters in Assam, apart from mobile booths for mock voting. A three-star hotel in Tinsukia went a step further, announcing a 10% discount on all food bills on April 4, polling day.
Rajesh Lakhani, the state's chief electoral officer, told ET Magazine: "Roping in Facebook and Twitter is one of the many strategies adopted by us to reach our target of 80% turnout in Tamil Nadu — seven percentage points higher than that of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. We have launched voter-awareness campaigns through milk packets, shopping bags, paintings and sand sculptures."
Raheel Khursheed, head of news, politics and government partnerships, Twitter India, says social media played a pivotal role in bringing people out to vote in the 2014 general elections, and then in Delhi and Bihar assembly polls. "Based on user response, 2014 Lok Sabha elections can be called India's first Twitter election... Tamil Nadu poll is not going to be different," he says.
Poll push
Tamil Nadu is not the only state that has launched innovative campaigns to woo voters on D-Day. Assam which had 84.72% turnout during the recent assembly poll — the highest ever in any election in the state, assembly or Lok Sabha — began a voter-awareness programme as early as October last year. The Election Commission (EC) called the programme Systematic Voters' Education & Electoral Participation (SVEEP). Under SVEEP, there were puppet shows, street plays and prizes for first-time voters in Assam, apart from mobile booths for mock voting. A three-star hotel in Tinsukia went a step further, announcing a 10% discount on all food bills on April 4, polling day.
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