As part of the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) activity, the Dakshina Kannada district administration will start a postcard campaign in which students will write to their parents, relatives and friends urging them to exercise their franchise on May 10.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer and SVEEP District Nodal Officer Kumara said students staying in hostels and college students will send postcards. “Having identified hostels in the district, we will give students postcards to write to their family and friends to exercise their right to vote. We will collect the postcards and post them,” Mr. Kumara said. Similarly, college students will also get postcards. Nearly 35,000 postcards will be used, he said.
Urban apathy
Mr. Kumara said the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, has recently studied urban apathy for voting. Among Assembly constituencies it studied included Mangaluru City South, which recorded 64% polling in 2018. Reluctance of the affluent to wait in long queues, non-availability of parking spaces etc., were among the reasons for not voting. The CEO said steps were taken to provide adequate parking space in most of the polling booths in the city.
Officials will interact with office-bearers of apartment owners’ and residents’ associations that have more than 50 flats in Mangaluru South to encourage residents to participate in elections. To begin with, a six-member team will visit each apartment that has more than 100 flats to create awareness among residents about the importance of voting. Each resident will be given an invitation/appeal letter for voting.
Special polling booths
There will be 100 special polling stations in the district that would have special booths for the physically challenged, for women and for the youth, besides having unique appearance. They will be decorated with Yakshagana, Kambla, Go Green, Blue Wave and Heritage concepts. Art teachers have already painted the walls of these polling stations.
Two-minute videos about voting by special icons, actors Raj B. Shetty, Anushree and Sangeeta Sringeri, Yakshangana Bhagavata Patla Satish Shetty, physically challenged Sabita Monisha and fruit seller-turned-educationalist Harekala Hajabba will be circulated on social and other media. Short shows of Yakshagana at public places will also be conducted.
Mr. Kumara also released “E focus” electronic paper that gives more information about different aspects of election. Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner Channabasappa said the paper will be circulated on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media platforms.
Published - April 03, 2023 11:19 pm IST
