BENGALURU: ‘Come out and cast your vote’, ‘Your voice is your vote’ were among messages screaming out for attention from the placards held aloft by pillion riders on bikes in Vidyarayanapura who used their Sunday to egg on the public to exercise their franchise. This apolitical venture received numerous smiles and thumbs up from all around.
The idea to urge public to vote was decided by ‘Biking Buddies,’ a group of bike enthusiasts across the City, just a couple of days ago. The 33-strong group, including seven women, who undertook the rally on Sunday was dominated by IT professionals. Starting from A M S Layout in Vidyaranapura at 9 am, they travelled for 7 km covering Ramachandrapura, Nanjappa Circle, Thindlu, Saptagiri Layout and M S Palya before returning to the starting point.
Participant Satish Rao, who runs his own logistics business, says, “Many people crib over the existing system in place. Instead, it would be better if they get out of their comfort zones and make a difference by casting their votes.” Astride her Royal Enfield 500 cc was Disha M Savali, a software developer at HP. She rode 17 km from her house in Balepet to take part in the awareness campaign. “If some good happens in any area, then I think it is good for the entire Bengaluru,” she said. Even if the voters do not prefer any candidate, they need to come to the booths and at least press the NOTA button, Savali added.
The pillion riders carried the placards.
Harikesh K M, Senior Regional Manager at a pharmaceutical firm, says, “Biking Buddies has earlier held awareness rallies on blood donation and has mobilised funds from members to donate sports kits to underprivileged children at Madikeri and Chikkamagaluru. It is the first time we have undertaken a venture like this in Bengaluru.”
EC’s walkathon promotes ethical voting
Bengaluru: The Election Commission (EC) conducted a four-kilometre-long walkathon called “All to Walk, All to Poll” from Sree Kanteerva Stadium to Vidhan Soudha on Sunday morning. The walk was aimed at promoting voter turnout and ethical voting. The programme started at the Kanteerva Stadium with a Zumba session to energise the crowd followed by addresses by famous Kannada actors Kishore Kumar G, Rishabh Shetty and Vaishnavi. They stressed the need to stop complaining about governance issues and urged people to be the source of change and development by exercising their rights to the optimum potential.