Over 18 tongas, Ambaari Rooftop Bus too take part; CAVA students paint colourful banners 

Mysore/Mysuru: Adding one more initiative to the list of many unique programmes to increase voting percentage, the Mysuru District Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) Committee organised a vintage car rally in the heart of the city to pull the urban voters to the polling booth.

Over 15 cars embarked on the rally for raising awareness of voters. Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Dr. K.V. Rajendra flagged off the rally from Kote Anjaneyaswamy Temple at Palace North Gate. The vehicles were the centre of attraction in the Central Business District for over 45 minutes.

Along with vintage cars, over 18 tongas and an Ambaari Rooftop Bus owned by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) too participated. The rally began at 9.45 am and passed through K.R. Circle, Devaraj Urs Road, JLB Road, Railway Station Road, Government Ayurveda Hospital Circle, Sayyaji Rao Road and culminated at the starting point. 

The cars that participated in the show were, 1980 Mercedes Benz W123 (owned by K. Gopi Kiran), 1962 Volkswagen Beetle (owned by Srinivas Chakravarthy, 1970 Fiat 500, 1955 Fiat Topolino, 1950 Bedford and 1971 Land Rover Series 3 Pickup (owned by Gopinath Shenoy), 1972 Premier President (M.T. Shivakumar), 1982 Mercedes Benz W123 (Ravi Kiran), 1962 Willys CJ3B (Bisweshwar Patra), 1969 Morris Cooper (Govind J. Shenoy), 1984 Mercedes Benz W126 300SD (N. Prasanna), 1969 Jeep (T.T. Rajesh), 1985 Premier Padmini (owned by Siddharth Deshak) and 1989 Premier Padmini (owned by Usman).

Moving on the roads, the cars and tongas added colour to the rally in their own way while the Ambaari bus sported a huge banner on SVEEP and voting awareness where staff were holding flags on the upper deck to attract people.

While the owners of the vintage beauties sat on the driver’s seat, top officers of the district and city including DC Dr. Rajendra, City Police Commissioner Ramesh Banoth, Zilla Panchayat CEO and SVEEP Committee Nodal Officer K.M. Gayathri, MCC Commissioner G. Lakshmikantha Reddy, MCC Executive Engineer Nagaraj, Commissioner of Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage Devaraju and officers of ZP and MCC sat in the vehicle and took part in the rally.

Addressing the gathering, Dr. Rajendra, who is also the District Electoral Officer, said that every one must vote on May 10. “The message is about compulsory voting and ethical voting. Only if these two are exercised, we can root out electoral malpractices and at the same time make our future secure,” he said.

“The right to exercise one’s franchise forms the cornerstone of any democracy. The essence of democracy lies in voting. The voting has to be done with discretion and with full knowledge of what’s going on,” he added.