Srirangapatna: Seventy-year-old Nagendra is on cloud nine. For, he’ll be voting for the first time on May 12.
Nagendra is among the 150 members from the nomadic
Hakki Pikki tribe — currently staying in
Channahalli-Mahadevapura village of
Srirangapatna taluk in
Mandya district — who have been enrolled as voters, thanks to the ‘minchina nondani’ (lightning registration) drive launched by the Mandya district administration for aspiring voters.
According to district officials, these nomadic families couldn’t get themselves enrolled as voters as they never lived in one place. However, this group of tribals was recently sanctioned residential plots where they have pitched tents. The proof of residence has now enabled the revenue department to enrol them as voters and issue them electoral photo identity cards (EPICs).
The entire community is now eager to cast votes in
Channahalli polling booth.
D Nagesh, tahsildar, Srirangapatna, told TOI that all 150 Hakki Pikki tribals above 18 years have been given EPICs. “None of them has voted till date,” he added.
According to sources, the Hakki Pikki families were allotted land on the outskirts of Channahalli by the revenue department after they waged a nine-month-long struggle seeking land rights.