PAC has observed that the low voter turnout in urban areas is directly linked to the lack of information on the electoral process. Inadequate information flows to citizens, coupled with an indifferent bureaucracy, has to a large extent resulted in an apathetic urban middle class. PAC’s voter motivation and awareness campaigns have targeted this section of the population, notably the youth and the upper-middle class. The Centre has partnered with RWAs, cable TV networks, radio stations, corporate networks and advertising agencies to conduct programmes aimed at motivating citizens to “go out and vote”, and to educate them about the need to exercise this fundamental right.

The distinctive feature of PAC’s campaigns is that each one of them has adopted a unique approach or strategy to cater to its specific target audience. For example, PAC used the unexpected mid-term polls of 1999 as an opportunity to join hands with Swabhimana, a platform of civil society organisations whose vision is to make Bangalore a cleaner, greener and safer place, to launch an awareness campaign. The main objective of the campaign was to substantially increase voter turnout. With the target groups being the youth and the upper-middle class, the PAC-Swabhimana campaign utilised the creative services of MAA Bozell, a leading advertising firm, to influence the thinking of these largely apathetic groups. As in all its campaigns, various corporate and business groups financially supported this one, and MAA Bozell willingly provided its services pro bono.

The campaign saw an outburst of creativity aimed at leading voters to the polling booth:

>> A special programme called Vote for My Sake was launched, wherein more than 100,000 badges were distributed among school children as the messengers of voter awareness. Children were educated about the importance of voting, and they carried this message to their parents and other eligible voters in the family and neighbourhood.

>> A Soul O' the Poll cartoon contest was held, targeting the youth. The contest elicited keen interest and participation among school and college students.

>> A vintage car and motorbike rally was held in association with the Karnataka Vintage and Classic Car Club. These antique vehicles travelled across the city with catchy and stimulating messages to motivate citizens to exercise their right to vote.

>> Hoardings and buses displayed humorous and thought-provoking messages.

>> Three major cable television networks in the city beamed messages as fillers and scrolls.

The campaign made a huge impact on citizens in Bangalore and was successful in drawing attention to the election, which was otherwise seen as a routine affair. With the success of the campaign in Bangalore, groups from across the state were motivated to launch similar campaigns with PAC’s support. The programme was also replicated by various organisations in other states, and was even adapted successfully in Bangladesh.

In 2001, PAC again joined hands with Swabhimana to launch an information dissemination campaign on the need to defeat bogus votes. The campaign urged voters to exercise their franchise in order to prevent their vote from being used fraudulently. Such campaigns have also focused on initiating a dialogue with major political parties to convince them to select honest and competent candidates.

An attempt was also made to instil a sense of responsibility among political parties during the mid-term poll of 1999. PAC, in association with other like-minded NGOs, released a Citizen’s Manifesto urging all political parties to commit themselves to a set of issues that matter most to citizens, and to provide a responsible, accountable and transparent government. The Manifesto emphasised a set of eligibility requirements:

>> Proven track record of community service

>> Submission of property/income tax returns

>> No standing criminal or corruption charges

>> Being a resident of the constituency

>> Following the code of conduct laid down by the Election Commission

PAC launched a massive campaign during the Parliamentary and State legislative elections of 2004. The theme of the campaign, “Vote Today, Don't Curse tomorrow”, developed by a leading advertising firm, Brand-Comm, was used by the media as a motivating punch line to motivate voters in the forthcoming elections. A nationwide media campaign was launched, and a series of promotionss featuring celebrities such as cricketer Rahul Dravid, cine-star Aamir Khan and Kannada film star Ramesh Aravind, were aired on national and regional television channels and radio broadcasting networks. These celebrities’ endorsements also appeared on other materials such as newspaper advertisements, posters and hoardings. The media blitz generated a good response, with citizens sitting up and taking notice of the ‘cast your vote’ message propagated by these celebrities. The campaign targeted the urban youth – youngsters who feel if a star has endorsed it, it’s a “cool” thing to do. Moreover, the endorsement by popular icons lent further credibility to the campaign.

PAC’s campaigns have also started tapping into the potential of information technology. For the 2004 elections, PAC developed a microsite on elections with the help of Mahiti, an organisation that provides simple and affordable information and communication technology services to the civil society sector. The microsite was replete with information on how, when and where to vote, how to use electronic voting machines, what to do if someone casts his or her vote in your name, details of the history and background of candidates hailing from Bangalore, etc. Popular websites such as MSN and Indiatimes, which featured advertisements, editorials, banners, pop-ups and opinion polls on the PAC campaign, also contained links to the PAC microsite. The run up to the elections witnessed a three-fold increase in visits to the PAC website (from an average of 93 visits per day in March to 292 visits per day in April), while the MSNIndia website registered more than 14,000 hits, with more than 3,000 people clicking on the Indiatimes pop-ups and banners. Mass e-mailing through corporate networks reached more than 3,500 companies.