Nadia district authorities have launched a mobile app named Nadia Not Out in a bid to encourage first-time voters in the district to vote in the Lok Sabha polls.
Nadia votes in three phases, on May 7, May 13 and May 20. Karimpur Assembly segment votes on May 7. Krishnanagar and Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituencies in the district will go to polls on May 13. Kalyani and Haringhata Assembly segments vote on May 20 as they fall under the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency.
The mobile app allows a young voter to take part in a quiz by downloading it on their Android phones. The quiz has election-related questions. There will be scores based on answers given to each question by a voter. Every day new questions will be updated and by answering these questions a voter can increase their scores. Based on the scoring, the young voters will get appreciation letters/certificates such as Bodh Chakra, Medha Chakra, Kriti Chakra, Gnan Chakra and Pragya Chakra, sources said.
There are other activities such as taking a selfie of planting a tree sapling or at the polling booth or with the election mascot and uploading them on the app.
Observers said that encouraging first-time voters was important as they were a potent voting bloc and could influence electoral outcomes.
Nadia has 94,219 first-time voters out of 43,99,591 voters eligible to vote in the 4,622 booths spread across the district.
A senior Nabanna official said that he never heard of any such initiative taken by a district before to attract the attention of first-time voters.
"It is commendable that a district has come forward to generate awareness among the first-time voters and draw them to the booths on the day of polls.... These young voters are the future of the country. It is important to encourage them to participate in the election process to keep democracy running," said the bureaucrat.
District magistrate S. Arun Prasad told this newspaper that they wanted all first-time voters to cast their franchise so that they could be a part of the biggest festival of democracy.
