India being the largest democratic nation in the world, witnesses about 80 crore citizens exercising their right of vote on the day of elections. However, these 80 crore people make up for only 60% of the eligible voting population in the nation. Adding to this distressing fact, is that, more than 18 crore people deemed eligible to vote by our constitution, are not even registered in the government’s voter’s list yet. Thus the outcome of elections is inevitably determined by only a specific 60% of the population, while the remaining 40% is somewhat oblivious to the entire voting process.
‘Wake Up and Vote’ is an initiative started by the students of IIT Guwahati, in November 2013. The campaign aims at overcoming the hindrances in the election process and making it more efficient so as to enhance the overall development of the country.
Under this initiative, a team of students from IIT Guwahati, organises several awareness campaigns in nearby villages to educate villagers about the process of elections, and the importance of voting. The team also works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India. They help citizens in applying for Voter ID cards and at the same time provide assistance to the EC in removing the names of deceased persons from the voter’s list. Every student from IIT Guwahati, without a voter ID card, is being benefitted from this initiative. The ‘Wake Up and Vote’ team tries to communicate to the masses with the help of social media platforms.
Voting is not a right, but a duty for every individual in the country. The IIT Guwahati team has already visited 20 villages and collected more than 200 registrations for the campaign till date. ‘Wake Up and Vote’ believes that citizens have the right to complain about the country’s governance only when they have participated in the voting process.–
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