Udupi leads by example in eco-friendly election

The district administration’s move to promote eco-friendly Lok Sabha elections has been lauded by the public.

The Election Commission of India, soon after announcing the Lok Sabha election on March 10, had emphasised on eco-friendly steps to be adopted in the general elections.

Accordingly, the district administration had held a meeting with political parties and candidates and urged them to make the election eco-friendly.

In the past, the elections were synonymous with hundreds of banners, buntings and party flags that were either erected or pasted or on either side of the roads.

Posters of all seizes and hues were pasted on all walls in the public places. This election, plastic flexes, cutouts and buntings had almost become non-existent in Udupi district.

Former cop Anupama Shenoy’s father Radhakrishna Shenoy (66), who runs a road-side canteen in Uchila, said, “The usual banners and noise were missing in this elections.”

Cloth items

The political parties had used banners and buntings made from cloth during the public meetings.

Though political parties were permitted to erect buntings, banners and cutouts in public places, none had visited the office of the election to obtain permission for the same, sources said.

The district administration not only preached but also led by example.

It used only paper cups to provide tea and coffee and plates made from arecanut sheaths during training programmes organised for election officials in Udupi, Kundapur, Kaup and Karkala recently. Further, water cans were used to supply water.

The banners used at the polling station to furnish information to voters are made from cloth. The kits given for polling staff at the mustering centres too were made from cloth.

Even political parties used water cans, which in turn has reduced the plastic garbage. Buoyed by the response, district administration has decided not to use plastic items in the polling booths in Udupi district on the polling day on Thursday, Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency, and on April 23, as Byndoor Assembly seat is part of Shimoga constituency.