New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has signed up actor Rajkumar Rao to boost the youth’s awareness about polls and to encourage voter participation as the country heads to general elections next year.
In an event in Delhi, the poll body appointed Rao as its ‘national icon’, where the actor spoke about his brush with the poll process while filming the black comedy “Newton”.
“I strongly believe in our democracy. I strongly believe in the importance of voting. Because I have done a film called ‘Newton’, I know how hard it is to conduct elections in remote areas… how hard all of you work for us to exercise our right to vote,” Rao told poll officials present.
In the 2017 film, India’s official entry to the 90th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category, Rao was a rookie poll officer who fought to get a few votes in a Naxal-infested area.
“I’m a citizen of this great nation like you all are. I have a stake in the destiny of India. This is where my journey into the realm of voter awareness begins,” Rao told the gathering, urging students present to spread the message.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel were also present at the event. All three spoke about the apathy of urban people and the youth towards voting.
“He (Rajkumar Rao) is doing it pro-bono and we are giving him no fees. His passion is not restricted to the film ‘Newton’. It goes beyond,” CEC Rajiv Kumar said.
He said the youth needed to overcome their indifference towards the poll process and get into the habit of voting. Revealing the election body would soon sign an MoU with the education ministry, Kumar said: “We are going to catch them young. We will put it in the curriculum… the roots of democracy should get engraved in the minds of young people.”
Need political consensus to conduct remote voting for migrant labour
Election Commissioner Anup Chandra said the “depth of democracy depends on how many voters voted”, adding they continuously aimed to pinpoint reasons behind low voting.
“One of the reasons is migrant labourers. They go to other states to work and they are unable to reach their polling area on time,” Chandra said, revealing that the commission was looking to provide them with the option of “remote voting”. “Technically it is feasible, but we can do it only when there is political consensus,” he added.
Election commissioner Arun Goel shared data from past elections that showed urban areas in a state tend to witness lower voter turnout than its overall average. He said Patna voter turnout was 45% while Bihar’s average was 57%. Similarly, Karnataka had a turnout of 68.8%, but capital Bengaluru could muster only 53.7%.
Goel said: “Two weeks back we came out with the ‘most convenient location’ concept. What we are advocating polling stations be at places where voters visit routinely.”
He added that Rao’s role would be to target the urban youth. “We have him here because these numbers can only change with behavioural change. Rajkumar Rao is a renowned actor and a darling of the youth. We need to use his abilities to nudge the urban youth. Why him? FRom ‘Newton’ we know that he knows the whole process inside out. We couldn’t have anyone better,” Goel said.
The commission also released a poster of Rao urging youth to enrol in the voters list, for which the process begins 27 October. With five Assembly elections coming up next month, and the Lok Sabha in a few months, Rao is the second celebrity to be roped in as ‘national icon’, after Tendulkar in August this year.
The Commission often collaborates with renowned Indians and designates them as its ‘national icons’, thereby harnessing their popularity to motivate voters.
Rajkumar Rao finds himself in the company of ‘Newton’ colleague Pankaj Tripathi, former Indian cricket team captain M.S. Dhoni, actor Aamir Khan and former boxing world champion Mary Kom. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was the ECI’s first ‘national icon’ in 2010.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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