Voters, who walk to their designated booth to cast their votes in the Lok Sabha election on Friday, will have made a small, but useful contribution to the goal of a carbon-neutral election.
Walk-to-vote to cut the carbon footprint, is one of the public messages of the Elections Department that has adopted sustainable elections, along with the ethical and informed voting, accessible and inclusivity as the cornerstone of its Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaigns.
Chief Electoral Officer P. Jawahar urged colleagues in government and the general electorate to promote sustainable elections by walking to your polling station.
The Department has also asked those who take up the advocacy to give a missed call to the number 9363831950 so that a metric is available on how many voters in an electorate of 10,23,699 lakh responded.
Essentially, the call encourages electors to avoid vehicles while visiting a polling site that is usually within a 500 m to 700 m radius of residence. Based on established emission factor estimates, about 120 tonnes of carbon emission can be eliminated if voters avoid using a two-wheeler or car for a one-kilometre trip, officials said.
As Mr. Jawahar puts it, carbon-neutrality marks the first step of a journey towards the ideal of a net zero and pollution-free election in the future.
According to the Elections Department, the total carbon footprint of the election process is estimated on a calculus of the total waste generated, electricity usage, fuel usage and material consumption during the period from announcement of election date to declaration of results. This exercise is being undertaken in association with the Forest Department and Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University.
Based on these estimates, targeted carbon neutrality measures are planned for each component of the election process and participants, from voters and, political parties, and election machinery. The slew of interventions to reduce the consumption range across measures such as ensuring single use plastic in all offices and replacing plastic items with green/biodegradable materials. Besides, all stationery items, food, refreshments, etc supplied to election offices and polling booths will be in green material---plastic water bottles will be replaced with paper cups, or reusable stainless steel tumblers in all election offices.
