NILGIRIS: The Nilgiris district administration has intensified its voter awareness campaign among tribal communities as part of the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation initiative ahead of the upcoming 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
As part of this drive, officials are deploying mobile demonstration vehicles equipped with electronic voting machines to sensitize voters in remote tribal hamlets about the voting process and the importance of electoral participation.
A revenue official involved in the initiative said, "We have been advising people to cast their votes without fail and not to accept money or gifts from political parties.
Using their local languages and with the support of tribal association leaders, awareness meetings are being held in community halls and village gathering spots." He added that special emphasis is being placed on ensuring residents stay back in their villages on polling day, as many often travel to neighbouring Kerala for work.
The awareness programmes are currently under way in Ellamalai, Kavundankolli, Kozhikandi, O-Valley, Seaforth, Moolakadu, and Sooni, covering both tribal and non-tribal populations to encourage higher voter turnout.
"More than 100 tribal hamlets are located within the Gudalur assembly constituency. Awareness sessions are being organised during weekends, similar to the earlier Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise where officials ensured inclusion of eligible voters and removal of deceased names," the official noted.
In an inspiring move, Bomman and Belli-the tribal couple who is known for taking care of captive elephants at Theppakkadu Elephant Camp and also featured in the Oscar-winning documentary 'The Elephant Whisperers'-have been chosen as the icons of SVEEP activities in Nilgiris. Their participation aims to motivate tribal voters to actively engage in the democratic process.
According to sources, there are 5,47,133 lakh voters across Nilgiris of which 1,87,425 voters are in Udhagamandalam constituency, 1,83,888 in Gudalur (reserved) and 1,75,820 in Coonoor.