Facebook to Encourage People to Vote in State Polls

Ahead of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, social media giant Facebook on Monday teamed up with the offices of chief electoral officers of the states to encourage people to participate in the upcoming state elections.

As part of this collaboration, Facebook will promote a reminder in people's 'News Feed' on three different polling days - November 9, December 9 and December 14 - to help educate people in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat on the upcoming state polls and encourage them to take part, a release said.

"The reminder will help encourage participation in the upcoming state elections, and will be run in conjunction with the campaign run by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat to encourage people to vote," it added.

Nitin Saluja, Politics and Government Outreach Manager, Facebook India, South and Central Asia, said the collaboration will make it easier for the people of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat to participate in their state elections.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pushpendra Rajput said the significance of reaching out to key audiences via social media platforms cannot be overemphasised.

"With the kind of reach Facebook has, it has been our endeavour to utilise this medium as an effective tool for information dissemination and awareness creation," he said.

Gujarat's CEO B B Swain said "There is a two-way conversation happening where people share what they care about, and officials get honest, real-time feedback. ...I am sure sending out polling day reminders in both the phases will result in a high participation by the community."

There are more than 212 million people who are active on Facebook in India. As per the release, around 37 million people generated over 312 million interactions during last five Indian state elections 2017.