Meet Tannisha Avarrsekar, the 22-year-old girl who launched her brainchild Lokatantra as a means to help Mumbaikars vote this election season. In an interview with Mahevash Muses, the young visionary talks about why her app is the best option for anyone who is busy yet wants to cast an educated vote.
We are living in the Internet age – literally, anyone’s biodata is available online. Why did you feel the need to create this app?
Yes, anyone’s biodata is available online but the common man doesn’t have time to sit and research all the different factors that matter while deciding on a candidate. Moreover, because of how late candidates are announced in India, they don’t even know whose biodata they should be finding – sometimes even after they are announced.
In today’s world, people need quick, relevant, and to the point information that they can consume on the go – and that’s what our app delivers. With no affiliations to any person, party, or ideology, Lokatantra.in is purely issued in public interest.
How did you come up with the idea of Lokatantra?
Since I moved to London for my studies when I was 18, this is the first election that I will be voting in. After I came back, finding out information about the registration process, as well as probable candidates took lots of time and effort. That’s when I began realizing that for citizens like me, who wanted to be more politically aware or socially conscious, there was want of a platform where they could educate themselves and engage with those they were considering electing. And that’s how Lokatantra came along.
What are the biggest challenges when it comes to voting and how does your app resolve it?
The biggest challenge when it comes to voting is being unable to interact with candidates or finding out about candidates that are independent or from smaller parties. We resolve this by profiling all the candidates possible and allowing people to suggest candidates that they want to include. In order to aid interaction, our platform also allows people to ask candidates questions, which we then procure answers to.
Since Lokatantra creates transparency in the voting process, will it benefit politicians as much as it will benefit citizens?
Lokatantra will benefit both politicians and citizens equally by bridging the communication gap between both sides of the government and allowing them to actively help each other. Politicians will be able to interact with voters, share their accomplishments, and find out the opinions of their constituents through polls, surveys and ratings.
Citizens, on the other hand, will benefit from the knowledge of what their peers think of politicians through ratings, polls, and surveys. They will be helped in their pursuit of the truth by our fact checker which will uncover any irrefutable facts and figures, as well as our honest, unbiased and detailed profiling of candidates.
So what are you waiting for? Download the Lokatantra app right now to ensure you make your vote truly count this year! For further details, visit the official website at https://lokatantra.in/.
