BENGALURU: The Karnataka Postal Circle is gearing up with numerous novel campaigns to popularise the need to exercise one's franchise in the upcoming polls following the Election Commission of India announcing a tie-up with the Department of Posts (DoP) and the Indian Banks Association recently.
The Circle has dispatched over 18.36 lakh Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) in the last ten months.
Chief Postmaster General, Karnataka Postal Circle, S Rajendra Kumar told TNIE, "We are expecting an additional 10 lakh EPIC cards to be booked by the Election Commission through our Circle in April. We have already dispatched 18,36,392 EPIC cards since June 2023."
A major initiative which is to begin next week is that of special cancellation to be done on all postal articles booked at any of the Post Offices. "The new image is being readied on our Franking Machines (a device that stamps a mark to a letter) so that the cancellation can be done.
Along with a display of three buttons to symbolize the voting machine, it has these words running as four lines thus: Chunav Ka Parv/Desh Ka Garv/Lok Sabha Election 2024/ I vote for Sure," the CPMG said.
This would be done on normal, Speed, and Registered Post articles at all post offices in the States.
"We have asked banks and other organisations who book bulk Business Mail to try to incorporate it too in their franking machines. It is up to them to decide on it."
The department also plans to display voter education messages on posters, LED screens outside its offices, and the postal ATMs across the State, he said.
Voter awareness forums are being set up across the State to get people to exercise their franchise. The same is been done in-house too. "The regular orientation programs held for Postal department employees will have training modules on SVEEP (Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation Program), the flagship program of the EC for voter literacy in India," Kumar said.