The ‘Operation Black Dot’ initiative, which aims to increase voter turnout, has launched extensive campaigns on social media platforms
"The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself"—Plato.
This is one of the tweets put out by the Maharashtra State Election Commission, urging citizens to become conscientious voters. As political parties in the state gear up for the elections to the 10 municipal corporations and 25 zilla parishads in February, setting up 'war rooms' to win the elections, the poll watchdog has also scaled up its efforts to increase the voting percentage from the dismally low figures of 45 per cent.
To woo young voters, especially first-timers, the commission has come up with a 'Digital War Room' — code-named 'Operation Black Dot' — to increase voter turnout by making the election process fun and engaging with a youth-centric approach. Anchored by 50 youth in Mumbai, 'Operation Black Dot' has launched an extensive campaigns on Twitter and Facebook. 'Get Inked Because BMC Matters' is the simple message of the 'Operation Black Dot' campaign which is spearheaded by the youth with support from the Maharashtra State Election Commission. The @MaharashtraSEC wants the hashtags #GetInkedBecauseBMCmatters and #VoteKarMaharashtra to trend on Twitter in the next three weeks.
"Just a missed call (+91-9029 901 901) gives an auto response which is considered as a pledge to vote. This also takes you to MahaVoter chatbot on Facebook messenger to guide further about your polling booth and candidates details like assets and education once nominations are done," says Swaraj Shetty, a member from the OBD team.
The chatbot also provides candidates' analysis by Praja NGO, complaint mechanism for code of conduct violations and conducts voters' survey as well. The commission has also launched two apps — True Voters and Citizens on Patrol to empower the youth.
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