SHILLONG: In an effort to reach out to young voters who constitute a large part of the voters in the state, the Election Department on Friday organised an interesting event ‘GoVote open mic’ held at Cafe Shillong
Speaking on the occasion, Meghalaya Chief Electoral Officer, Frederick Kharkongor said that the ratio of enrollment of young electorates is higher in Meghalaya compared to the ratio throughout India.
“The ratio of enrollment of young electorates in India is only two per cent. The ratio of enrollment of young electorates in the State is 4.26 per cent till January. The figures is likely to go up once the final tabulation of young voters who have attained the age of 18 years and recently enrolled in the electoral rolls ,” Kharkongor said
. “We are expecting to touch the figures of 80,000 first time voters who will be casting their votes on April 11 Lok Sabha polls in the state,” Kharkongor said
The event was organised by the Election Department as cafes are a favourite hangout place for youngsters and in these cafes, the youths can be motivated to come and exercise their right to vote.
Talking about the event, Kharkongor said that the event was organised in Cafe Shillong as lots of people come here to have a cup of coffee and to listen to some music.
“It is this kind of creative engagement and dialouge which would motivate the youth to go and vote. Music also reflects great culture of our society where music is the dominant vocabulary. Music and creative artist has to play a central role to motivate the young voters. We have long association with Summer Salt,” Kharkongor said.
He said that this event would also be spread through the social media adding that many visitors to the event will also spread through their mouth about this initiative.
Kharkongor said that they have created animations and videos which are being played in the cinema hall to fulfil the objective of the Election Commission that no voter be left behind.
The Summer Salt band played both English and Khasi songs to entertain the visitors in Cafe Shillong.