Motivating people to cast their votes

A voter awareness rally was held in Mysuru on Friday to motivate people to exercise their franchise in the coming elections to the Legislative Assembly this May 12.

Volunteers from Development Initiatives for Sustainable Human Advancement (DISHA) Foundation, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), and Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) held the rally titled ‘Come out and vote – Every vote counts – Yours too’ from Metagalli to Vijayanagar in Chamaraja Assembly constituency.

The rally was flagged off by Sowmya Dinesh, president, Innerwheel Central Mysuru, and Dr. Rekha of DISHA Foundation.

A signature campaign urging the voters to pledge to vote honestly was also conducted during the rally. About 136 people pledged to be honest voters. Oath taking ceremonies were also held at three places, where store-owners, autorickshaw drivers and other citizens took an oath to not only vote, but to vote responsibly.

2,000 people

It reached about 2,000 people. It was part of DISHA Foundation’s Making Democracy Work (MDW), which is striving to create awareness among citizens about the importance of voting, securing information about candidates of their respective constituencies and not falling prey to freebies offered by the candidates or their supporters. Creating awareness about None of the Above (NOTA) is also part of the campaign.

DISHA Foundation has started this campaign in about 20 constituencies of Mysuru, Hassan and Kodagu districts of Karnataka with an aim to increase the voter turnout and elect candidates, who will contribute to their development.

The awareness programme, which began on March 8 through a cycle rally has continued in the form of door-to-door campaigning, which goes around the selected constituencies in the three districts.

About 110 people, all volunteers from Ekalavyanagara, Ambedkar Jnana Loka, Bharathnagara, Ananda Jyothi network and DISHA foundation participated in the rally.