Patna, Aug 18: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday launched the National Electoral Literacy Club-2.0 (ELC-2.0) campaign in Bihar, seeking to deepen electoral awareness among young people and equip them to counter misinformation about the voting process.
Kumar unveiled the ELC-2.0 logo at Gyan Bhawan in the presence of more than 500 school, college and university students. The initiative will use educational institutions for interactive discussions and demonstrations aimed at promoting an informed, inclusive and technology-enabled electoral democracy.
“Awareness about the electoral process is crucial,” Kumar said, stressing the need for young people to understand the electoral system and access authentic information.
During an interaction with students, questions were raised about facilities such as mobile voting and One Nation, One Election. Kumar said such facilities could not be introduced immediately in the absence of the necessary provisions under the Constitution and electoral laws.
The CEC encouraged citizens to use the Election Commission’s digital services, particularly ECINET, while highlighting its growing reach. Around 11 crore people have downloaded ECINET, with the Commission targeting 30 crore downloads during the current calendar year, he said.
Kumar said India has around 950 million voters and described the scale of its electoral exercise as unmatched globally. Around 18 million personnel are deployed for Lok Sabha general elections, he said.
The ELC-2.0 campaign will provide accurate and authentic information about elections while seeking to prevent confusion, rumours and misinformation. Kumar also called on election officials to proactively counter misleading information circulating on social media.
He said the highest-ever voter turnout recorded in the recently concluded Assembly elections was evidence of people’s faith in the country’s electoral system.
Bihar Chief Secretary Pratyaya Amrit welcomed the selection of the state for the launch of the initiative, noting that around 58 per cent of Bihar’s population is below 25 years of age.
“It is a matter of pride for Bihar that the CEC has selected Bihar for ELC-2.0,” Amrit said, emphasising the importance of engaging the state’s large youth population in democratic processes.
The initiative also seeks to turn young people into electoral literacy ambassadors, enabling them to spread awareness within their communities.
Kumar later interacted with around 500 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in Nalanda, hearing about their field experiences, challenges and suggestions. He stressed the importance of effective communication with voters, accuracy of electoral rolls and efforts to maximise voter participation.
The CEC described the feedback from BLOs as important for making the electoral process more effective, transparent and participatory.
The Election Commission said ELC-2.0 would seek to strengthen electoral literacy through educational institutions while ensuring that young voters have access to reliable information and are better equipped to participate in democracy.
