CHITRADURGA: Ever since the Election Commission took up the SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) programme across the country under the theme of the Great Participation for a Stronger Democracy since 2009, voter participation has been observed to be increasing in every election.
Chitradurga district too has benefitted from the programme and the voter percentage is being recorded at 70-90 across urban and rural pockets. It is said to be because of SVEEP activities taken up by zilla panchayat CEOs, who are also chairpersons of the district SVEEP committees.
Ahead of the Assembly polls, Chitradurga is trying a unique approach to popularise voting and to promote culture and tradition. Zilla Panchayat CEO MS Diwakar is also planning to popularise ‘Brand Chitradurga’.
Polling stations coming under gram panchayats are being decorated with Warli folk paintings, a form of tribal art created by the tribal people in the northern regions of the Sahyadri Range. Warli art is a set of basic geometric shapes: a circle, a triangle, and a square. After the elections, the decorations will also attract students to government schools, the majority of which will be polling centres.
Diwakar told TNIE, “The aim of these theme-based decorations is to attract more voters to polling stations during the festival of democracy. Our PDOs who are working at the grassroots are also educating voters.”As the Warli art form is catchy and closer to the rural lifestyle, it was selected, he added. He said model polling stations in each constituency will be decorated with the local theme. In Chitradurga, it will be the historic fort, Hiriyur will be Vanivilas Sagar Dam, Challakere groundnut products, Molakalmuru the famous silk sarees, Hosadurga coconut-based theme and Holalkere the horticulture theme.
At the Nagaramgere Gram Panchayat in the Challakere Assembly constituency, nine polling booths have already been decorated with Warli art. Diwakar said that all the polling booths will have facilities like power, drinking water and access to the differently abled. On election day, gram panchayats will facilitate wheelchairs for the differently abled people and elderly, he added.