Electoral Literacy Club will be operative in all TN colleges
Pointing out that many private colleges across the State have already formed ELC, the official said that the club will have all the students from all semesters as its members
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CHENNAI: In a bid to create awareness about the importance among the first time voters, all the state-run universities and colleges in Tamil Nadu will be having electoral literacy clubs, which was a long pending one for many institutions.
An Electoral Literacy Club is a platform to engage school students through interesting activities and hands-on experience to sensitize them on their electoral rights and familiarize them with the electoral process of registration and voting.
Accordingly, as the general elections will be conducted next year, the clubs will do various activities including voluntary contribution in electoral process-participation in voter registration of students.
A senior official from the Higher Education, wishing not to be named told DT Next that at present the Electoral Literacy Club (ELC) activities are being conducted with the help of a sub-group in the National Service Scheme (NSS) in many colleges including Anna University.
"College level ELCs will be established for especially for new voters who are aged between 18-21 year", he said adding "the ELC should have been established in 2019 itself as per the instructions of Election Commission of India (ECI).
Stating that through ELC, the ECI, aims at strengthening the culture of electoral participation among young and future voters, he said that the members of ELC will have hands-on experience to familiarize the student community with linking Aadhaar numbers with voter ID.
Pointing out that many private colleges across the State have already formed ELC, the official said that the club will have all the students from all semesters as its members, whose main objective is to to help the target audience understand the value of their vote and exercise their right to franchise in a confident, comfortable and ethical manner.
He said ELC executive committee members are expected to post relevant content (event announcements, updates, results, initiatives, current affairs, online/offline contests, registration drives) at regularly on a dedicated Facebook page and group, YouTube channel (live streaming of events, recorded content and related content) anchored by the nodal officer.
The official also pointed out that The ELC in college is expected to have its own dedicated Social Media handles (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram). The number of members in ELC could be decided by the college according to the requirement, he said.