Twitter announces initiatives for voters ahead of Assembly elections


PTI, Jan 13, 2022, 4:45 PM IST

New Delhi: Twitter on Thursday announced a series of initiatives to empower citizens with the right knowledge before they cast their votes in the upcoming Assembly elections in five states.

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will be held between February 10 and March 7 in seven phases with the counting of votes on March 10. In all, elections will be held for 690 assembly seats, and 18.3 crore people, including 8.5 crore women, will be eligible to cast their votes in the five states.

”Elections are when people come to Twitter to find credible information about voting, to learn about candidates and their manifestos, and to engage in healthy civic debate and conversation. As a service for public conversation, Twitter is committed to enabling people to make informed decisions when exercising their civic rights,” Twitter said in a statement.

Twitter’s initiatives, powered by an Open Internet, are directed towards not just ensuring a high voter turnout but also aiding in ensuring voters are involved, engaged and informed throughout the election cycle, it added.

As part of the initiatives, Twitter will launch a customised emoji that will further be supported with a notification and reminder mechanism, which will allow people to voluntarily sign-up for reminders on the day voting starts.

Further, a voter education quiz will engage people in Q&As, equipping them with necessary facts about the polls, the statement said.

Twitter said it has launched an information search prompt with the Election Commission of India and Chief Electoral Officers to make it easy to find credible and authoritative information for the Assembly elections.

These prompts provide credible, authoritative sources of information when people search with related keywords on Twitter’s Explore page. The prompt will direct people to resources where they can access reliable information about candidate lists, voting dates, polling booths and more.

In addition to English, the Search Prompt will be available in Hindi, Punjabi, and Konkani, and will be supported by several hashtags.

Besides, Twitter will be hosting workshops and training sessions for non-profits across the five states, which will be aimed at developing literacy materials and pre-bunks to tackle misinformation around the elections.

”… and events of political and civic significance always find a place among the conversations on the service. Public discourse is shaped by these conversations, and we recognise the responsibility that it places on us — to ensure that people are met with reliable and authentic information as they go out to vote,” Twitter India Manager Public Policy and Government Payal Kamat said.

She added that the company has been working in partnership with official authorities, including the Election Commission of India, and will continue to harness the power of the Open Internet to strengthen civic dialogue and encourage quality participation this election season.

Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.

Top News

Allegation of abuse against K’taka Minister Laxmi: BJP leader C T Ravi booked, taken into custody

Mangaluru Traffic Advisory: Netravathi Bridge repair work to affect vehicle movement

MUDA case: Karnataka HC defers filing of Lokayukta police report

BJP files police complaint against Rahul, seeks FIR under ‘attempt to murder, assault, incitement’

Mid-sea crash: Navy institutes ‘Board of Inquiry’ to establish facts of case

CT deadlock ends; India to play its matches at neutral venue; Pak gets reciprocal arrangement

BJP MLC accused of using derogatory word against Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar in Legislative Council

Related Articles More

BJP files police complaint against Rahul, seeks FIR under ‘attempt to murder, assault, incitement’

Mid-sea crash: Navy institutes ‘Board of Inquiry’ to establish facts of case

Centre released Rs 47,225 crore to states and UTs under Smart Cities Mission: Tokhan Sahu

Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviews J&K security situation

Hema Committee report: Kerala HC expands mandate of nodal officer

MUST WATCH

Tulunadu Daivaradane

Feeding Birds with Creative Paddy Art!

Areca Nut

HOTEL SRI DURGA BHAVANA

Harish Poonja


Latest Additions

Allegation of abuse against K’taka Minister Laxmi: BJP leader C T Ravi booked, taken into custody

Gadag: 2-yo girl dies after being run over by water tanker

Mangaluru Traffic Advisory: Netravathi Bridge repair work to affect vehicle movement

MUDA case: Karnataka HC defers filing of Lokayukta police report

BJP files police complaint against Rahul, seeks FIR under ‘attempt to murder, assault, incitement’

Thanks for visiting Udayavani

You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.