Unique voter awareness campaign near Hoggenakal

Chamarajanagar SVEEP Committee uses coracles for voter awareness campaign in remote village, urging high turnout without malpractice.

The Chamarajanagar district Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) Committee conducted a unique voter awareness campaign at a village in the Gopinatham by sailing in coracles.

Booth number 141, Marikottaye gram panchayat, the last on the Karnataka side of the border close to Hoggenakal, on Friday.

P.S. Vastrad, the State Nodal Officer for SVEEP launched the programme and the inauguration of the voter awareness by sailing in the coracles in the Cauvery river. The SVEEP activity was akin to a “theppotsava”, said the officials

The SVEEP activity covered the booth number 141 at Marikottaye, which is the last booth on the Karnataka side of the border with Tamil Nadu, the officials added.  As the village is in a remote area and the terrain difficult to reach, an awareness programme was conducted to ensure that there was an increase in voter turnout, said the organisers.

There was a festive atmosphere in the village and women from Gopinantham were present in large numbers with traditional poornakumbha to welcome the SVEEP team and launch the campaign.

Mr. Vastrad who addressed the gathering, appealed to the people of the village to compulsorily exercise their franchise on April 26and take part in the democratic exercise. He called upon the public to notify the officials if they come across any election-related malpractice without fear. Mr. Vastrad also inspected the facilities at the polling booths

District SVEEP Committee chairman and Chamarajanagar Zilla Panchayat CEO Anand Prakash urged the voters to eschew the lure of money and liquor during elections. District SVEEP nodal officer and Deputy Secretary of Zilla Panchayat P. Lakshmi imparted the oath to the public. Senior officials of Chamarajanagar district administration and local taluk officials were present.