- This is in continuation of the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) efforts to enhance electoral awareness.
- Recently, ECI also signed an MoU with the Ministry of Education to integrate electoral literacy into the educational curriculum.
- Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP): Flagship program of the ECI for voter education, spreading voter awareness, and promoting voter literacy in India.
- Need for Voter Education in India
- Voter’s Right: SC in People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. UoI, (2003), held that voters have a right under Article 19(1)(a) to obtain information about candidates contesting elections.
- Insufficient turnout: Around 30 crore electors (out of 91 crore), did not cast their votes in the General Election to Lok Sabha 2019.
- Inclusive democracy: Critical in enhancing participation of women, youth, divyangs, marginalized sections, etc. in elections.
- Informed and ethical voting: Necessitated due to prevalence of misinformation,divisive propaganda, fake news, etc.
- Steps required by ECI to promote voter education
- Promoting Critical thinking among voters to move beyond voter turnout to uplift the quality of votes casted.
- Encouraging cooperation with Civil Society Organisations(CSO). E.g CSOs can help voters inculcate practices of fact-checking.