Big corporate and technology giants are mastering the art of engagement with government organisations. Facebook which failed to garner any significant support during its Net Neutrality stand-off with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has partnered with Election Commission of India (ECI) to help the latter in mobilising young voter registration.
Without disclosing the formalities on data sharing, social media giant said that as part of this campaign, all users who turn 18 between November 18 and December 18 will receive a News Feed reminder with birthday wishes and also encouraging them to register with the Election Commission.
Facebook said that over 217 million people in India is on Facebook. The Election Commission is partnering with Facebook to remind 18 year olds to register to vote. These voter registration reminders will be sent to newly eligible first time voters on Facebook in India. The reminder will be in 13 Indian languages – English, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi,Bengali, Urdu, Assamese, Marathi and Oriya. By clicking on the “Register Now” button, people will be directed to the National Voters’ Services Portal which will guide them through the registration process.
This is the first time Facebook’s voter registration reminder has been rolled out across India keeping the first time voters in mind. This partnership is designed to support the ECI’s ongoing campaign to register first time voters announced on November 15th by Election Commission of India, said Facebook.
“I am happy to announce that the Election Commission of India has launched a Special Drive to enrol all prospective and eligible young citizens of India as voters who are turning 18 years or more than 18 years on 1st January, 2018. This partnership of Election Commission with Facebook for the dissemination of Information will help us reach out the young digital Community of India in fulfilling our mission “No Voter to be Left Behind” and “Every Vote Counts,” said Achal Kumar Jyoti, Chief Election Commissioner in a statement.
