Hundreds of volunteers form human chain, hold torchlight parade at K.R. Circle

Mysuru:  A mega voters’ awareness rally was taken out from different parts of the city and volunteers formed a human chain and took out a torchlight parade at K.R. Circle yesterday. The event was organised by the District Administration.

Voting is your right, let it not be wasted, voting means just not pressing the button, it is for the progress of the country, vote and save democracy, farmers are the backbone of the country, honest voter is this country’s sutradar, were some of the slogans, the volunteers raised to create awareness about voting.

The Election Commission of India set up SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation), a programme of multi-interventions through different modes and media, designed to educate citizens, electors and voters about the electoral process in order to increase their awareness and participation in the electoral process.

According to a recent survey the voting pattern in the urban areas is decreasing when compared to the rural areas. Hence, to create awareness, sportspersons, students, Anganwadi workers, Police trainees and the public participated in the mega rally.

The awareness rally was divided into four batches and the first batch began the rally from Deputy Commissioner’s Office, the second from K.R. Hospital, the third from Chamundi Vihar Stadium and the fourth one from Basaveshwara Circle. The   volunteers of all the four batches staged street plays and created awareness about the voting, before they reached K.R. Circle.

Torchlight procession amidst rain: The four groups of rallyists with more than 1,000 participants formed a human chain at K.R. Circle. By then it had started raining. Even amidst the rain, the CAR and DAR Police held the torchlight procession, creating voter awareness.

Zilla Panchayat (ZP) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) P. Shivashankar, speaking on the occasion, said that the voter turnout in the urban areas is going down. In order to increase their participation in this election, lot of voter awareness programmes are being organised and one of the efforts is the current one with the participation of students, taking out torchlight procession and forming human chain, he added.

In the urban areas there was only 56 percent voting. This time it is going to go up to a minimum 70 percent. Apart from this, awareness is being created in every taluk and village, he said.

ZP Dy. Secretary Shivakumaraswamy, MCC Commissioner K.H. Jagadish, SVEEP  Secretary Krishna, Information Department Assistant Director Raju, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports (DYES) Assistant Director K. Suresh, Renukamma of Backward Classes Welfare Department and others were present.