CHENNAI: The corporation has tied up with busking group ‘On the Streets of Chennai’ to bring their music to low voter turnout areas and parks in the city and encourage voter participation, ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled next month.
The initiative is part of the civic body’s SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) programme. “During weekends, a lot of people come to parks. So the band goes to parks in low voter turnout areas and other main parks in the city, to reach out to people and create awareness,” said Meghanath Reddy, Deputy Commissioner (revenue and finance).
On Saturday, the group performed in metro trains and on Sunday, it will be seen in three places - Marina beach in the morning and at Anna Nagar tower park and Nageswara Rao park in the evening, he added.
Speaking to Express, the founder of ‘On the Streets of Chennai’, P Senthil Raj said the band steers clear of songs that might have any kind of political influence including songs of actor-turned-politicians.
The group mostly sings light, happy songs like the popular ‘Kutty Story’ from the movie ‘Master’ and also takes requests from audience. In between songs, they speak on the importance of casting votes. “We do post the venues of our upcoming performances on our social media accounts but mostly, the idea is to take people by surprise and make them happy.
For example, someone travelling on the metro might not be expecting our performance,” said Senthil. The group that mostly sings in public spaces, has around 275 members, from students in class 8 to doctors, bankers and advocates.
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