BENGALURU: The hospitality and healthcare sectors employ a sizeable number of voters, but they are not given the time to exercise their franchise most of the time citing tight work schedules. Now, to ensure a high voter turnout percentage, the District Election Officer and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath has taken steps to ensure that employees in these sectors cast their votes on the polling day.
Girinath has tasked BBMP Special Commissioner (Health) Dr K V Thrilok Chandra to direct all associations in these sectors to communicate to their members -- hospitals, clinics, hotels and restaurants -- to allow their staffers to go out on the polling day and cast their vote.
Dr Chandra told The New Indian Express that directions will be given to all hospitals, clinics, hotels and restaurants to participate in the electoral process. “The heads of the institutions will be told to ask their employees to come and vote, and also take measures to facilitate the staffers to exercise their voting power,” he said.
Girinath has already held meetings with Residential Welfare Associations (RWAs) and meetings with heads from the industry sector are being lined up to create awareness on voting and on increasing the polling percentage.
This initiative was launched as in the last Assembly election, the city, comprising four segments, reported just 55.54 per cent voting. According to the data, the polling percentage in Bengaluru Central parliamentary district was 51 per cent, Bengaluru North and South was 49, respectively, and Bengaluru Urban 51 per cent.
Welcoming the move, P C Rao, president of Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels and Restaurants Association, said, “We will definitely ask our staff and customers to go and cast their votes.”
Dr Govindaiah Yateesh, president of Private Hospitals and Nursing Home Association also lauded the move. He noted that no organisation can prevent a person from voting as it can lead to criminal proceedings. “We will ask our staff, those who have their polling booths close to hospitals and nursing homes, to go and vote on the polling day and also encourage attendants of patients to do the same,” said Yateesh.