Know Your Vote Samvad Reaches 11,000 Youth in 62 Events

Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat), which works under the Department of Youth Affairs in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, ran 62 editions of its Viksit Bharat Yuva Samvad: Know Your Vote programme on 31 October 2026. The sittings were held in colleges and other educational institutions spread over 16 states and union territories, and more than 11,000 young people took part in them.

What the campaign sets out to do

The drive is built around electoral awareness, with first-time voters as the group it most wants to reach. Students are taken through their voting rights, the steps of the electoral process and the duties that go with citizenship. Each sitting also puts them in front of elected representatives, Youth Icons and other invited guests for a conversation on taking part in democracy and on nation-building.

Where the day's programmes were held

The spread ran from the north to the south. Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh were covered in the north; Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in the North-East; Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha in the east; Madhya Pradesh in the centre; Maharashtra and Rajasthan in the west; and Tamil Nadu and Telangana in the south.

The running total

With this round counted in, 158 Yuva Samvads have now been held across 28 states and union territories. About 32,000 young people and 158 Youth Icons have been drawn in so far.

Who addressed the students

At Jaipur, Rajya Sabha member Ghanshyam Tiwari and Jaipur City member of Parliament Manju Sharma spoke to students on voting and democratic participation, while Youth Icon Divyanshi Shekhawat made a presentation on Know Your Vote and Sports Icon Bhumika Shukla shared her own experiences. In Assam, the state Water Resources Minister Sushanta Borgohain met young people at Sivasagar and answered their questions, and one session there dealt with checking facts before believing or forwarding anything on social media. At Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, MLA Sunil Bhardwaj addressed the gathering. In Ferozepur in Punjab about 250 youth took the Loktantrik Pledge.

The campaign window

The nationwide campaign began on 26 October 2026 and runs to 5 November 2026, with the aim of covering 500 universities, colleges and institutions in all.