Electoral Literacy Club

Electoral Literacy Club has been set up in the college which functions as a platform to engage students through appealing activities and hands-on experience to sensitize them on their electoral rights and familiarise them with the electoral process of registration and voting. The club basically targets the new voters (in the age group of 18-21 years old) pursuing their graduation.

Vision
Providing a clear-cut vision about electoral participation and a sense of democratic attribute among young generation.

Mission
• To create awareness and interest among faculties and students through workshops andHackathons.
• To provide education to the targeted populations about voter registration, legal electoral process and related matters through hands on experience.
• To familiarize the targeted populations about machine voting like EVM and VVPAT.
• To help the targeted audience understand the value of their vote.
• To ensure the citizens that they should exercise their adult suffrage right with confidence in an ethical manner.
• To facilitate voter registration for its eligible members who are not yet registered.
• To develop a culture of electoral participation and maximize the informed and ethical voting and follow the principle ‘Every vote counts’ and ‘No Voter to be Left Behind.’

Both the student coordinator and faculty coordinator are appointed by the college authorities and the ELC is functioning in an effective manner and it makes a difference in the campus. Yes, the ELC’s are representative in character.

Innovative programmes and initiatives undertaken by the ELC
A youth parliament had been organised under the electoral literacy club prior to the general election 2019, in addition to the election awareness campaigns, voter awareness songs, demo of the Electronic Voting Machines has been displayed in public, distribution of leaflets at rallies, promo videos, selection of campus ambassadors, voter enrolment of disabled voters etc were mobilized. Students under the electoral literacy club who are also NSS volunteers have helped the district administration in helping disabled voters to come to the polling booths at various localities of Kottayam and vote in large numbers.

National Voters Day had been celebrated in the campus through various programs. Students try to create awareness among voters in the adopted village at Karil colony near Kumarakom, especially among the new voters. A video of how to enrol as a new voter has been displayed online and circulated through social media among the youths of the adopted village. An election song composed by the electoral literacy club was popularized in the adopted village and town areas along with a flashmob. One of the documentaries produced by the electoral literacy club relating to the voting of disabled voters have won the second prize under the district election office documentary contest in
2022.

Prior to the 2024 general election adequate measures have been taken by the college authorities to enroll all the students under the age group of 18 as voters through college campus. Enrolment drives had been conducted at college every year with aim of “No voter to be left behind”. As the oldest college in the country, CMS college looks forward to materialize the vision of the Election Commission of India ie. “Greater Participation for a Stronger Democracy”.