Election Commission sign MoUs with Bank association and Post Office for voter outreach

The Election Commission has tied up with the Indian Banks’ Association and the Department of Posts to amplify its outreach to electors ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections

As part of its efforts to spread voter awareness, the Election Commission has tied up with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the Department of Posts (DoP) to amplify its outreach to electors ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The EC signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with both the organisations in the presence of Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday. As part of the agreement, the IBA and DoP with its members and affiliated institutions or units will extend support in promoting voter education through their extensive network on a pro-bono basis, employing various interventions to empower citizens with knowledge about their electoral rights, processes and steps for registration and voting, the Election Commission said in a statement.

Affiliated institutions of these organisations will display voter education messages prominently on their websites, voter education content will be disseminated through various promotional channels such as social media and customer outreach platforms and voter education messages will be displayed in the form of posters, flex, and hoardings at office infrastructure or premises at major locations.

Additionally, the Department of Posts will affix a special cancellation stamp (bearing voter education messages) on the postal articles.

The EC has expressed concerned that around 30 crore electors (out of 91 crore), did not cast their votes in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The voting percentage was 67.4 %, which the commission has taken as a challenge to improve upon.

The poll body has also recently signed an MoU with the Union Education Ministry to formally integrate electoral literacy into the educational curriculum of schools and colleges.

The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), formed on September 26, 1946, started with 22 members and now has a strong network of 247 members across the country. Public sector banks are in lead with more than 90,000 branches and 1.36 lakh ATMs followed by more than 42,000 branches of Private Sector Banks with 79,000 ATMs.