For a long time now, a majority of youth have not been actively participating in politics and the whole business of voting. Over the past few years, interest has been generated, but there is a need to get the youth on board, and make them active participants in the democratic process. Enter the Goa State Election Commission (GSEC) who have initiated a unique campaign where they are engaging with the youth through various contests. After roping in a team of young interns from colleges in the state, they have launched contests like the slogan contest or the epic card selfie contest and have capitalised on social media platforms to get their audience interested.
To get the youth involved, especially first time voter, thing would have to be interesting enough to hook them in. "The idea is to create awareness through these activities where we can engage the youth with the election process. For instance we have visited colleges through an activity called 'Goa On Elections' and asked students questions like ‘How many assembly seats does the state of Goa have?’" stated Varidhish Desai, a student volunteer from Goa Engineering College (GEC). This is the latest activity currently underway and the team has been empowered with platforms like making a short film about the same. Varidhish added that many of these ideas came from the interns itself after a brain storming session with the Chief Electoral Officer, and that they had stressed on innovative ideas that were fun and exciting for the target audience.
Contests like the epic selfie contest offer the latest in electronic gadgets to increase voter enrollment among youngsters. The GSEC had earlier launched the Epic Card Selfie contest in October for a short period that saw over 100 entries where the winners won prizes like the Redmi Note 3, JBL Flip 3 and the 1TB External Hard Disk. The contest required a voter to click a selfie with their Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) and submit it as a message to the official Facebook Page of the Chief Electoral Officer. A second phase of the contest went live on their Facebook page recently and the youth have been impressed at the way the commission has approached this challenge.
The current epic card selfie contest will see the winner receive a Moto G4 plus, the second place winner will wiln Audio Technica Headphones and the third winner will win 20,000 mAh power bank. Akeel Phaldessai won the slogan contest with his entry "Goencho Fudhar Ami Rakhunk Jai...Chitun Vote Ami Marunk Jai" and won an iPad mini. There are some who have participated in the epic selfie contest and the slogan contest, like Tanmaik Raikar, who submitted "To strengthen nation's might, Let's choose what is right!! " as his entry and Sagar Prabhu Lawande who submitted " Have a vision? Make the right decision! Vote! " If the GSEC wanted to get the youth involved, they seem to have managed it. Now, we need to wait for February 4 and see if that translates to a good vote percentage.
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The idea is to create awareness through through these activities where we can engage the youth with the election process. For instance we have visited colleges through an activity called 'Goa On Elections' and asked students questions like how many assembly seats does the state of Goa have ?
Varidhish Desai, student volunteer from Goa Engineering College (GEC).
I'm 21 year old and a first time voter and to me, this was a very creative initiative to create awareness. A few of my friends are interning for the election commission so that's how I got to know about it. Also, their fb page is pretty active that makes it more interesting
Gandha Bhat, student
I think the way they are reaching out overall is a good initiative asnot much of this sort had been does before. I'm 23 years old and this is my second election. Also it is good that a lot more is being done besides just selfie contests to create awareness as you need find ways that are not common .
Omkar Samant, businessman
