The Election Commission of India as an institution enables the people of India to exercise their right to choose a government of their choice through free and fair elections, held periodically. The underlying assumption being that the participation of people in adequate numbers is guaranteed and the role of the commission is merely to facilitate and administer the election process. The reality is somewhat different and a successful election is one that brings about participation in large numbers that go beyond traditional vote banks and engage with the aspirations of the youth, women and the urban non-voters who might have  disconnected themselves from the electoral process.

Paradoxically, lower voter turn out or non voting from these groups may benefit groups that rely on their vote banks or the ones that vitiate the sanctity of the democratic process through inducements & muscle power. When seen in this context enhancing voter participation to strengthen and deepen democracy moves several notches up and assumes a key challenge the management and conduct of elections. It may be relevant to point out that the model code of conduct (MCC) was evolved by the political parties themselves is administered by the ECI with their consent, it is neither statutory nor is it part of the original role defined for ECI but some has come to occupy an important function in the conduct and management of elections. Similarly voter education is need that has arisen over a period of time and any doubts about it should be put to rest.

Lets us try to understand some basics about elections. It is perhaps well known that any bona-fide citizen of India having attained the age of 18 years in the first month of the calendar year viz., January or earlier is eligible to vote. The Indian universe of such voters is estimated to be over 716 million and is popularly referred to as the electorate. Consequently voter turn out represents the percentage of voters that cast their vote, a higher percentage would represent greater participation and a lower percentage lower participation.

It was not until recently that the ECI focused on voter turn out, for long it was assumed to be the domain of politicians and political parties to mobilize and bring the voters to the polling booths. The incumbent Chief Election Commissioner Dr S Y Quraishi, a doctorate in Social M3arketing and someone with a deep understanding of the social  sector, having held positions in the ministries of women & child development, youth affairs, the health ministry and Doordarshan, saw lower voter turn out as democracy deficit which needed to be bridged to strengthen and deepen our democracy. He took it upon himself to address the issues of voter apathy and lower turnout in a scientific and systemic manner. Social Marketing as a technique, something Dr Quraishi had practiced in his various assignments, came in handy to understand the underlying reasons for voter apathy and lower voter turnouts.

It might be useful to explain the social marketing framework before proceeding further. Social Marketing is a discipline that uses techniques and methodologies employed by commercial marketing to create behaviours and practices that lead to social, community and individual good. While the objective of commercial marketing is return on financial capital employed, the objective in social marketing is return on social capital employed.

It was for the first time in the history of elections in India that a systemic voter education and participation campaign was conceptualized and implemented beginning with the elections to the Bihar and the Jharkhand assembly and subsequently followed by ten other assembly elections culminating with the latest five elections to the states of Manipur, Uttarkhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Goa.

The basis of a social marketing campaign is a research study within the identified target groups that reveals the underlying causes of a negative or undesirable behaviour – in this instance it was voter apathy, a knowledge, attitude, behaviour, beliefs & practices (KABBP) study revealed that youth & women were the segments that participated the least in the electoral process, that money & muscle power together could influence up to 24 % voters, the main motivation to vote came from a sense of national duty, political party affiliation, family elders followed by caste, community & religious leaders. The KABBP study thus defined the target audience and segmented it into critical and general segments.

The communication or the social marketing task was identified as to motivate the non-voters to vote and reinforce the pride of being a part of the worlds’ largest democracy.  However the communication needed to be designed to the specific concerns of the audience segments as identified in the KABBP studies. The study had revealed that first time and newly eligible voters did not vote because of a lack of familiarity and knowledge with the registration and enrollment process. A typical marketing conundrum; inducing trial amongst the non-users or the un-initiated, (remember free trials of lipton tea in the sixties before it became synonymous with tea as we know it today). This called for an intervention strategy that would motivate the eligible voters to approach and access the registration process. The intervention chosen was a ‘Booth Level Officer’ the BLO, the communication positioned him/her as the familiar & friendly neighborhood facilitator, who would go door to door to register and update the electoral register. Once the source credibility of the BLO was established through a planned advertising campaign, a door-to-door drive was initiated through the BLO. Simultaneously an advertising campaign targeted at the youth was launched to create demand for the registration process. The Delhi state assembly election of 2008 was the first pilot project of what came to be known as Systemic Voter Education & Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme in subsequent years.

The electronic photo identity card (EPIC) proved to be the equivalent of a product or service in the commercial marketing e.g., if hygiene is the route to health and a soap bar is the device to ensure good hygiene, the key social marketing strategy would be to promote its usage, similarly if participation is the key to a vibrant democracy the demand for EPIC and its usage would be the key strategy to ensure participation. The effectiveness of the intervention was proved in the recently concluded elections in Uttar Pradesh where an addition of 160 million new voters boosted voter turn out to an all time record of 60 % plus.

Listening, simulated as focus groups in social marketing is a unique research tool that generates target insights on interventions be they products, communication or services, it was at one such session in Bhubaneswar that the idea of celebrating the ‘National Voters Day’ (NVD) was discovered, it serves as a reminder for the nation to celebrate its democracy and the youth to come forward and participate, 25th January, the day the Election Commission was constituted, it has become a huge event that draws participation from across the country. The programme strategy for NVD was provided by another civil society group in a document called YUVA – Youth Unite for Voter Awareness, The participation in this years NVD has been staggering, 38.3 million voter cards were distributed across 630, 000 functions across the country. It is estimated that a large majority of the new voters who voted in the recently held state elections had been sensitized in these NVD functions.

Environment building and social mobilisation are integral to successful social marketing processes, media plays a pivotal role in creating the right atmosphere on account of its impact & reach, a buy in from the media therefore on the actions of the ECI was critical. The CEC co-opted the media and appealed that they be the allies of the commission at a high profile media summit. The summit created the desired buy in and the impact was enormous. Conservatives estimates by experts indicate that the value of the newspaper space and the television time devoted to the ECI at their commercial rate cards was close to INR 750 million, this was achieved without any cost. The media benefited as well and enhanced its social brand value through a value connect with its core audiences.

National, local and youth icons from Dr APJ Abdul Kalaam to Mahendra Singh Dhoni willingly came forward to educate and motivate voters.

The voter turnouts in all the 7 state assembly elections earlier and the latest five has shown a significant increase. The participation revolution has arrived and it will only improve with better and strategic use of social marketing.