Warli, Kambala, Yakshagana paintings beckon voters to polling booths in Udupi district

While ECI had asked district administrations to decorate one polling booth in each Assembly segment, ZP CEO decided to beautify all 1,111 booths

The Udupi district administration has got the walls of polling booths attractively painted by about 30 drawing teachers on a pilot basis at the government higher primary school in Hanumanthanagar-Nittur in Udupi city on March 7, responding to Election Commission of India’s call to celebrate elections as festivals.

The district administration has undertaken various initiatives to woo voters to exercise their franchise and bring in a responsible government under the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme, said Zilla Panchayat CEO H. Prasanna in a statement. Therefore, polling booths in the district were being decorated with eye-catching artworks to attract voters to polling booths on the day of polling, he said.

The administration has planned to decorate with paintings the walls and interiors of 1,111 polling booths in the district that are located in school buildings. Services of art teachers in schools were being utilised for the work, Mr. Prasanna said.

The theme of the artworks revolves around the tradition and culture of the district, thereby encouraging voters to actively participate in the democratic process during the upcoming elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Some of the art forms to be painted on the walls include Kambala, Yakshagana, Udupi saree, Warli among others.

The decorative work was undertaken by around 30 art teachers at five polling booths in the GHPS at Hanumanthanagara in Nittur under Udupi City Municipal Corporation limits on Tuesday. Teachers from government as well as aided schools participated in the pilot mission without expecting any additional remuneration, Mr. Prasanna said.

While the ECI had asked the administration to decorate one polling booth in each Assembly segment in a conventional manner, Mr. Prasanna went a step ahead and decided to get interiors of all polling booths painted to reflect the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the region. All polling booths in the district will similarly be decorated with the help of art teachers from government, private as well as aided schools.