Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 13: On Thursday, Twitter unveiled a number of initiatives aimed at arming voters with the information they need to vote in the upcoming Assembly elections in five states. Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, and Goa will be held in seven stages from February 10 to March 7, with results announced on March 10. Across total, elections for 690 assembly seats will be held, with 18.3 crore people, including 8.5 crore women, eligible to vote in the five states.
“Elections are when people come to Twitter to find credible information about voting, to learn about candidates and their manifestos, and to engage in healthy civic debate and conversation. As a service for public conversation, Twitter is committed to enabling people to make informed decisions when exercising their civic rights,” Twitter said in a statement.
“Twitter’s initiatives, powered by an Open Internet, are directed towards not just ensuring a high voter turnout but also aiding in ensuring voters are involved, engaged and informed throughout the election cycle,” it added.
Twitter will publish a customised emoji as part of the campaign, which will be accompanied by a notice and reminder mechanism that will allow individuals to freely sign up for reminders on the day voting begins. A voter education quiz will also engage participants in Q&As, arming them with crucial information about the polls.
Twitter said that it has partnered with the Election Commission of India and Chief Electoral Officers to provide an information search prompt to make it easier to obtain trustworthy and authoritative information for the upcoming Assembly elections. When visitors search for relevant keywords on Twitter’s Explore page, these suggestions give reputable, authoritative sources of information. People will be directed to resources where they can find accurate information on candidate lists, voting dates, polling booths, and other topics.
The Search Prompt will be available in Hindi, Punjabi, and Konkani, in addition to English, and will include various hashtags. In addition, Twitter will offer seminars and training sessions for non-profits in each of the five states, with the goal of generating literacy materials and pre-bunks to combat election misinformation.
