Ahmedabad: Students and young voters will play a crucial role in shaping India’s democratic future, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said on Friday, calling them the “torchbearers of tomorrow’s democracy”.
Kumar was speaking at the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) fifth regional conference on Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs) and ECINET in Ahmedabad. The conference focused on strengthening electoral awareness and encouraging informed participation among young citizens.
Addressing students and teachers from schools, colleges and universities across Gujarat, Kumar said Electoral Literacy Clubs could help strengthen democratic awareness and familiarise young citizens with India’s electoral system.
He urged students and young electors to understand democratic values, voter registration, polling and counting procedures, as well as the role and functioning of the Election Commission.
“Engaging young citizens and securing their trust and informed participation in the electoral process is an investment in the future of democracy,” he said.
Kumar also stressed that elections in India are conducted in accordance with the Constitution, law and ECI instructions, with transparency maintained through scrutiny by political parties, candidates and their representatives.
Under ELC 2.0, with the tagline “Learn Democracy. Lead Democracy.”, the ECI plans to transform Electoral Literacy Clubs into structured, digitally enabled platforms across educational institutions.
The initiative will use the ECINET digital platform and a dedicated ELC portal to facilitate year-round electoral literacy activities, covering voter registration, polling, counting and other election-related services.
The programme gains significance given India’s vast education network, comprising around 15 lakh schools with nearly 25 crore students and over one crore teachers. Higher education includes about 1,500 universities and 70,000 institutions, with around 4.33 crore students.
Earlier, Kumar interacted with more than 500 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in Gujarat and congratulated them for their role in the smooth conduct of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Students and BLOs also participated in question-and-answer sessions with the CEC.
