On March 15, ahead of the assembly elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, West Bengal and Assam, Twitter has launched an information search prompt with the Election Commission of India and State Election Commissions in an effort to fight misinformation.
In the search prompt, which will appear on the user’s home timelines one can seek credible and authoritative information about candidate lists, voting dates and voter registration, among other election-related topics. The 'Get the Latest Updates' prompt will be active in six languages including Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Assamese, Hindi, and English, supporting more than 30 hashtags, some of which include #AssemblyElections, #AssemblyPolls,#BiharAssemblyElections, #BiharElection, #BiharElections, #BiharPolls, #EVM, #GeneralElections,#PollingBooth and #VoterRegistration.
Other initiatives that the platform has announced include a custom emoji to encourage participation; a series of pre-bunks and de-bunks to tackle election-related misinformation, and a youth discussion series aimed at voter literacy and civic participation among them for the Assembly polls.
In a statement released by the platform, “Twitter is where people come to hear directly from elected officials and candidates for office, it's where they come to find breaking news and stay updated with the latest election-related conversations," Payal Kamat, Manager Public Policy & Government, Twitter India, said in a statement.
"By leveraging the power of the Open Internet, we are encouraging people across India to be a part of the #AssemblyElections2021 conversation,” she wrote, adding "None of this would be possible without support from the Election Commission of India, the State Election Commissions, and hope our efforts contribute to the healthy and vibrant civic dialogue."
Twitter also announced that it would bring back #HerPoliticalJourney, a video series where women political leaders talk about their personal stories with leading women news journalists to put a spotlight on women in Indian politics, Twitter said it will be bringing.
While Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will have elections in a single phase, polls will be held in Assam in three phases. West Bengal, however, will have elections in eight phases. Counting for all the seats will be held on May 2.
