CHENNAI : As the crowd gathers outside the Higginbothams stall in Central station, those in the seating area peer over the people standing to see a jigsaw puzzle on the floor. A person picks up a piece and scrutinises the puzzle before placing it down. The puzzle reads, ‘Vote Podu’.Dunzo, The Internet Generation and Puratchi Thalaivar MG Ramachandran Central Station organised a voter awareness event on Tuesday. Social media influencers and locals put together a jigsaw puzzle, which will remain at the station premises till April 18.
“We spoke to the Railway Commissioner, and he suggested that we do something for voter awareness where we encourage them to vote. So we sent pieces of the puzzle to several influencers and didn’t tell them what it was, so that they could come here, assemble it, and find out what it meant,” said Sreekesh Krishnan, growth team — Chennai, Dunzo. Around 30 city-based social media influencers were invited for the event. The influencers were chosen based on their followers count.
One among those invited was Shivani Karnica, who runs @kryptoniteproof_gril, a beauty and fashion page on Instagram. The 19-year-old believes that her platform has to be used wisely to inform her audience of their social duties.
“I want first-time voters to analyse the political climate, rather than just listening to what their parents say or vote for who their parents vote for. We all know about the major parties in the state, but we need to know more about the minor parties as well,” she said.
Several passersby also took part in the puzzle. Some, such as Sanjay Bhattacharya, a freelance creative director, came to the event after seeing social media posts about the same. “The tags, #partofawhole and #forthenation, were very interesting. The current generation speaks this language. I don’t think they respond to the posters that are stuck in public places the same way we used to, I think this is great,” he said.
Taking informed decisions
One among those invited was Shivani Karnica, who runs @kryptoniteproof_gril, a beauty and fashion page on Instagram. The 19-year-old believes that her platform has to be used wisely to inform her audience of their social duties. “I want first-time voters to analyse the political climate, rather than just listening to what their parents say or vote for who their parents vote for. We need to know more about the minor parties as well,” she said.