Election Commission of India launches youth voter outreach

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched ELC 2.0, a revamped outreach initiative designed to engage Generation Z and Generation Alpha ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The program aims to educate young citizens on democratic values and the electoral process through a digitally enabled framework.

As part of this campaign, the ECI plans to establish 50,000 Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs) across the country, with 10 clubs designated for each of the 4,123 assembly constituencies. The initiative will target students in classes 9 through 12 across 1.5 million schools, as well as 70,000 colleges and 1,400 universities.

The ECI is focusing on a massive demographic of approximately 14.78 crore people in the 18-26 age group, which includes 7.98 crore males, 6.79 crore females, and 9,000 third-gender individuals. By engaging students in secondary school, the commission seeks to prepare future voters to be informed and active participants in the democratic process.