Campaign to create awareness on voting

 ‘Vote as You Please, But Vote Please’,  a campaign as part of the initiative Pledge2Vote to create awareness on polling, was held in the City on Sunday.

Taking part in the programme organised in collaboration with the Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) and Bangalore Tamil Sangam, BJP MLC Tara said nation-building is a continuous process and elections give a direction to the process. “Don’t stay away from voting, join the process and cast your vote to whoever you like,” she added. 

Former cricketer Dodda Ganesh said: “The smallest role that all of us can play in a democracy is that of a voter and it requires only a few minutes of our time. We must make it a habit to vote every time there is an election,” he added. According to the Pledge2Vote, which aims to ensure that non-registered but eligible Bangaloreans register as voters before the forthcoming polls, Karnataka has 55 lakh voters who will exercise their first vote during the coming Lok Sabha elections.

CRISP president Kumar Jahagirdar said: “There are several issues that pertain to urban middle class in a metro life, but most political parties do not address them. If we go out and vote, we will be able to demand our elected representatives to bring about amendments in laws governing child rights.”

S Damodaran, secretary of the Bangalore Tamil Sangam, said youth will come forward and first register as voters and later help others to register.

“Several youngsters who have shifted to the City recently, do not know the enrolment procedures. We will help them in registration and ensure that the number of registered voters as well as the voting percentage go up this year.”