Electoral Literacy Club
Institutional Initiatives for Electoral Literacy:
As per the Government’s instruction an Electoral Literacy Club (ELC) has been set up by SNGGDCG in 2024 and is duly operational. In its interactive programmes so far it has put in efforts to implement the ideals of SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) which is a flagship programme under the Election Commission of India. Before the establishment of the ELC several awareness programme were conducted by the NSS unit on the occasion of National Voters’ Day (NVD).
The ELC of the college is quite representative as it is headed by teachers of the college and several students are appointed as members and they coordinate accordingly. The office bearers of the Students’ body are coopted as members of the Club. The structure of the ELC is as follows:
Joint Convenors:
Dr. Kalyanasis Bhattacharyya (Political Science)
Dr. Debjani Mukherjee Banerjee (NSS Programme Officer; Zoology)
Members:
Dr. Sanghamitra Chanda (Political Science)
Smt. Parul Mondal (History)
Smt. Arundhuti Bhattacharya (Economics)
Ms. Saraswati Kumari (GS, Students’ Council)
Ms. Tania Parveen (AGS, Students’ Council; Science)
Ms. Sohini Debnath (AGS, Students’ Council; Humanities)
Initiatives undertaken by the ELC of the SNGGDCG:
•Right to Vote and its Legal Aspects (whether it is a fundamental right or not)
•Take Pledge to enlist one’s name in the electoral roll and cast vote.
•Awareness in the Institution and in nearby slums
•Poster Competition to College Students
•Regular Participation in Parliamentary /Assembly / Municipal or Panchayat Elections as voter.
•Promotion on ethical voting
•Promotion of voting among senior citizens
Activities:
As per the established norms under the UGC system undergraduate students in India are well above the required age of being voters and duly registered as they come to the college. However, some students reach that age during their initial semesters. The ELC of the college keep an eye on them on a regular basis and never forget to remind them about enrollment in the electoral roll and participation in the electoral process regular enquiries are made to that end.
Indeed, there are some students who do not much care about enlisting themselves in the roll. Such negligence is borne out of the lack of proper socio-political awareness. Such awareness is essential for their political socialization at this stage of life and technically academic institution coupled with the presence of peer groups play serious part in this socialization process. Therefore, SNGGDCG’s ELC is very active in conducting regular awareness programme among the students. In every meeting of the ELC students are accordingly informed about the importance of election in a democratic state and being the free citizen of the nation their potential input therein.