The Election Commission of India undertook the revision of electoral rolls in Bangalore during October and November 1999. PAC supported the campaign by initiating an information campaign that motivated Bangaloreans to verify the voters’ list, to disseminate information on the summary revisions and to facilitate the redress of grievances related to summary revisions.

Partner: Swabhimana partnered with PAC to make revision process more effective by collaborating with various media and MAA Bozell, an advertising firm.

About the Campaign: The State Election Commission’s (SEC) cooperation to PAC’s campaign rendered an authentic character to it

• The most important accomplishment of the revision was that the voting process was brought closer to the people by making designating polling booths function as registration centres and designating weekends as special registration days.

• Media were extensively used and existing networks were utilised to disseminate information. MAA Bozell, a leading advertising agency, provided creative inputs pro bono that made a significant difference to the campaign.

• A helpline was established for the first time by the Centre to redress the grievances of the public. More than 800 calls were recorded within the first month.

Impact An exit poll was conducted to assess the impact of the campaign. The results showed that 66 percent of people who had visited the booths reported their source of information to be one of the media that PAC had used to disseminate the information. It was estimated that in Bangalore, the percent increase in the total number of registered voters was about 6 percent as compared with 2.5 – 3% of in the previous years. This increase in awareness and participation can be directly attributed to the PAC/Swabhimana information campaign.