As the nation was preparing to witness the largest festival of democracy, the 2024 general elections, the role of young people in the success of this election became clear. This election was unprecedented and historic, with over 90 crore voters of which 18 crore were first-time voters!
However, the declining enthusiasm amongst young people to cast their votes remained a cause of concern. I.I.M.U.N.'s #MyFirstVote campaign encouraged young people to step out and cast their vote. It brought luminaries from various fields, including the likes of Karan Johar, A.R. Rahman, Shankar Mahadevan, Raghuram Rajan, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza, Guneet Monga, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Gaur Gopal Das, Emraan Hashmi, R Madhavan amongst many others, and most importantly politicians from all major political parties came together in the first of its kind apolitical bipartisan effort to encourage and motivate young people to exercise their democratic right! Harnessing the power of social media, the campaign was a tremendous success with its broad reach and undoubted impact on voter turnout. The first phase having been a social media campaign, I.I.M.U.N. took to conducting workshops in colleges and ending with visiting the polling booths as a part of the campaign's third phase, where young volunteers assisted voters in identifying and maneuvering through their voting process.
