Voter registration in your lecture hall
Student organisation iVote to help youngsters at south Mumbai colleges fill up registration forms, which their volunteers will submit to the local Electoral Registration Office ……..DIPTI SONAWALA
Students of seven south Mumbai colleges will soon be able to register for voting even as they are seated in their lecture halls. They will get help in filling up the forms and will not even have to go to their Electoral Registration Office (ERO), thanks to a student organisation called iVote that is trying to increase awareness about voting among youngsters.
Formed in August 2007 by three students from St Xaviers College Natasha Kewalramani (20), Keya Madhvani (20) and Neha Dhawan (20) iVote launched its Voter Awareness and Registration Drive 2009 and aims to register a minimum of 1,000 students from each college.
Natasha, a 3rd year political science student, said, Voting is the way by which we can get our voice heard and participate in the system. But registering to vote has always been tedious. Due to this many youngsters choose not to register. So we decided to help.
iVote has established a core team of two, supported by 50 volunteers. On Wednesday we conducted a workshop for volunteers who will encourage as many students as they can, said Keya, a 3rd year economics student. iVote started this drive after getting special permission from the Chief Electoral Officer in December, she said.
And iVote’s responsibility doesn’t end there. Well make sure that all who have registered step out in April and cast their votes for the Lok Sabha elections, Keya added.
The drive will be conducted are St Xaviers College, Jai Hind College, Sophia College, Wilson College, H R College of Commerce, K C College and Government Law College.
The iVote team briefing volunteers at a workshop on Wednesday