Catch them young: New EC slogan

To catch Indian voters young, the Election Commission will soon use new mediums such as Facebook to get them enrolled in electoral rolls and then pledge to participate in every election without fear or discrimination. HT reports.

To catch Indian voters young, the Election Commission will soon use new mediums such as Facebook to get them enrolled in electoral rolls and then pledge to participate in every election without fear or discrimination.

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"We will soon have an Election Commission facebook account. We are creating one," said Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi.

The election in the last three months has enrolled eight lakh young voters, who attained the age of 18 on January 2, 2011, in its campaign to improve participation of young voters in elections.

As per a recent commission survey, participation of voters in the age group of 18-20 was just 30% in some urban localities and many of them have not even bothered to get themselves registered in the electoral rolls.

Quraishi said the voter identity card at the age of 18 should be the biggest sign of adulthood. "To first time voters, the identity card would be of attaining something big," he said.

They will also be administered a pledge to vote without any fear or discrimination and will get a badge saying "Proud to be a voter, ready to vote".