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B Hema, a housewife, was surprised to see a message in Tamil on the Aavin milk sachet on Wednesday. “Is your family ready to vote 100 on May 16?” went the message. Usually, such messages are printed on the cover during festivals, and on occasions like Independence Day and Republic Day.
The message was posted by the Election Commission to create awareness among people to vote in the Assembly elections to be held on May 16. Today’s message on the sachet will ensure that the Commission’s campaign reaches Aavin’s consumers.
The Commission has been quite active in creating awareness among voters by adopting various measures. For instance, flash mobs were organised at Express Avenue mall and Besant Nagar beach in Chennai to attract the attention of voters.
It has also tied up with social media networks Twitter and Facebook to spread the message among young voters under the ‘TN100 per cent’ (100 per cent in registration, voting and honesty-ethical voting) campaign.
New voters Nearly 18 million new voters were added to the State electoral rolls. Of this, 14 million are in the age group of 18-29 years, and most of them are present in social media. On May 15 and 16, Facebook will send alerts to its users’ timeline to vote.
The Commission has also been running daily contests in social media, asking various questions related to elections.
Some of the questions are: what is the total number of members in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly? When was the first assembly elections conducted in Tamil Nadu post Independence? The indelible ink was introduced in which elections? Which was the Tamil movie produced by Sivaji Ganesan to popularise his political party, Tamizhaga Munnetra Munnani?
“Don’t get fooled for five years. Say no to cash. Don’t get fooled for a few thousands. Let’s take the pledge. For a few thousands today, don’t sell your future,” were some of the messages posted by the Commission in the social media.
The CEC has also roped in cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin and actors Surya, Nasser and Siddharth to spread the message and help TN achieve 100 per cent electoral participation.
Citizens have also joined the campaign by posting their own video messages in social media.
In the 2011 Assembly Elections, Tamil Nadu witnessed 75.21 per cent voter turnout.
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