Election Education Centre-cum-Museum

The building where the Election Museum is housed predates Independence. Originally built in 1890, it used to be a part of the campus of St. Stephen’s College, and was subsequently transferred for the use of the Chief Electoral Office in the 1960s. It was finally converted into the Election Museum in 2016.

The museum is a curated collection of India’s electoral journey through artefacts, photographs, documents and archival film footage. Special interactive booths have also been installed, an important one being the ‘voter’s pledge section’, where visitors can take a pledge to vote and then take a selfie.

One of the most memorable elements on display at the museum are items that have been used by voters throughout the years. The different ballot boxes, EVMs and, most recently, EVMs with VVPAT are the first things a visitor observes during her/his guided tour. The museum also lives up to its promise of being an educational center, as it provides answers and information regarding commonly held misperceptions about voting and voting procedures. In addition to this, the staff of the museum also undertakes several awareness campaigns to encourage people to vote in elections, and often integrates these campaigns with screenings and tours of the museum.

A must-see artefact in the museum is the booklet containing the names and affiliations of the largest set of candidates to have ever contested in national elections—a figure crossing a thousand! In a similar vein, another significant artefact on display is the ballot box, used during the state elections when the largest number of candidates ran for office.