WHY DID WE NOT
ACHIEVE 100%
To my knowledge, one
of the best election campaigns conceived and implemented across TN. The beauty of this campaign from
the Election Commission, conceived by my friends in OPN was, it not only
triggered the electorate to think, but it also made a whole lot of corporates,
retailers, individuals, media to promote voting. Never ever one who would have
seen this kind of promotion :
-
Celebrities
doing dubsmash
-
RJ Balaji’s
witty Video
-
Pothy’s
bags carrying “Vote 100%” branding
-
Aavin Milk
packets having “Vote 100%” branding
-
Radio
Channels doing their bit
-
Road side
promos
-
Prabhu Deva’s
big hit song
-
Traffic signal
promos
-
Wall
Posters by Atikramya architects (perumpulli)
-
Bus backs /
Autos
-
Television
/ Print / Cinema
-
Facebook /
Twitter
-
DRA
Squarefeet Subbu talking on Vote
-
Akshaya’s
vote campaign in TOI
-
And many more
This is a
fantastic communication case study where a lot of brands/ corporates have come together
towards one cause : VOTE.
But the surprising
part despite of this mammoth effort is we have not performed well as regards to
voting, we have more or less achieved the same number as last year. Other
states without such communication efforts have performed better. Having been in
the business of communication for over 25 years I am sure minus this campaign
the percentage would have been far less.
The reasons and solutions
for poor voting could be:
1. Scheduling the poll date on a Monday and
announcing it to be a holiday. People have taken that long weekend excuse and
flown to different destinations. Next time promote postal ballot.
2. Summer
holidays for children would have triggered a lot of native place holidays. Next time promote postal ballot.
3. Politicians and the money catch, EC being far
too silent and no demonstrable action.
4. Some districts suffered from a sudden down
pour.
5. Longer queues in city booths people seeing it
returned back. Increasing
number of polling Stations. Reducing the verification process ( We have
a slip, our photo is there, the election officials have a list, they can see our
photo and we are standing in front and they still ask us for an identity card
is the height of stupidity and time consuming)
6. The decreasing faith in our democratic system, worrying
but true. Reformation in
the party’s poll promises and eligibility to contest.
Micro
analysis immediately from the Election commission to find out the reason for
not voting, a research exercise across the voter list which is easier now could
help find reasons. May be election commission could do an SMS research or
through Voice response system to people who have not voted and why. This will
help in finding out the poor polling percentage across Chennai and the
remaining parts of Tamil Nadu.
