Election Commission Aims To Reach Out To 10 Lakh Students Through Electoral Literacy Clubs By Year End
Sources in the ECI said ELC can be set up in any school, college, university, and other educational institutions following approval from the concerned authority.
Published : September 1, 2026 at 8:34 PM IST
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has set a target to reach out to nearly 10 lakh students studying in different educational institutions across the country by the end of this year, through its Electoral Literacy Club (ELC) 2.0 initiative.
The objective of the recently launched ELC 2.0 by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is to make the students messengers of electoral awareness by providing them with in-depth knowledge of electoral processes and the functioning of the poll panel. This would probably result in encouraging democratic participation among their family members and communities.
ELCs are one of the key initiatives under the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) that have played an important role in introducing students to democratic values, the electoral process, and the role and functioning of the ECI.
The SVEEP Division of ECI is tasked with undertaking various information, education and communication (IEC) initiatives aimed at enhancing electoral literacy, strengthening democratic participation, and promoting informed electoral engagement among all stakeholders.
Mentioning the ELC, sources in the ECI said it can be set up in any school, college, university, and other educational institutions following approval from the concerned authority appointed by the poll panel.
After approval and onboarding through the ELC registration portal, each ELC will be given a unique identification number. This would be used to create and maintain the Club's profile, record and submit activities, and help in monitoring, reporting, and recognition.
To coordinate and monitor the functioning of ELCs across the states and UTs, sources in the ECI said the poll panel has directed the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to appoint a State ELC Nodal Office, and added that they would submit reports to the poll panel from time to time. Similarly, the District Election Officer (DEO) will appoint a District ELC Coordinator, who will report to the CEO of the State/UT in this regard.
Referring to ELC 2.0, they said that under it, outreach programmes at the State and UT level for 1-2 days will be conducted. This will involve students and other representatives from educational institutions. Notably, Chief Election Commissioner Kumar has so far attended several conferences, organised on the ELCs, starting from Bihar last month.
"The Election Commission of India is aiming to reach out to around 10 lakh students in India by the end of 2026 through its Electoral Literacy Club initiative at 50,000 educational institutions. The main goal of this initiative is to make students aware of electoral processes and the functioning of the poll panel so that they can spread the message further with their families and communities," they told ETV Bharat.
Informing that the Commission has so far onboarded around 1,000 educational institutions under the programme, they said more institutions will be brought on board, which will subsequently enrol students. Sources also informed that ECI has lined up a series of conferences this month across different states, including Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. These are likely to be graced by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Goa programme is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday.
Students view on ELC
Referring to the ELC, Aksh Malhotra, a postgraduate student, on Tuesday said, "This is a positive initiative being initiated by the Election Commission of India. This will help students to understand how the world's largest democracy functions by getting knowledge of electoral processes." He, however, emphasised strict monitoring for its successful implementation.
Expressing similar views, Tanmay Chandna, an undergraduate student, on Tuesday told ETV Bharat, "The success of any initiative depends on its proper implementation. The real challenge for any initiative is it's proper implementation in alignment with its objective. " "The focus should not just be on the number of educational institutions or students involved in this initiative. The focus should be on awareness and its impact, " he said.
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