ADILABAD: Mickey Mouse has landed a new assignment in rural Telangana, and this time, it has nothing to do with cartoons. The job: getting voters to fill out their SIR forms.
Across villages in the erstwhile Adilabad district, sarpanches and officials are getting creative to ensure forms reach BLOs before July 24.
At Medaripet gram panchayat in Dhandepalli mandal of Mancherial district, people dressed as popular cartoon characters, including Mickey Mouse and Motu Patlu, accompany the sarpanch and officials on door-to-door rounds, urging villagers to complete and submit their forms. Unsurprisingly, the colourful campaign has caught the attention of residents.
And Mickey is not working alone. Where forms remain unfilled, BLOs step in, visiting homes, explaining the process and helping voters complete them. Officials are also warning residents that failing to submit the forms could affect government benefits.
Dhandepalli Mandal MPDO JR Prasad said different awareness methods were being used to reach villagers and complete digitisation within the stipulated timeline.
Elsewhere, the campaign has gone old school. Tom-tom announcements, or Dappu Chaatimpu, are echoing through villages, while bicycles fitted with loudspeakers make morning and night rounds, reminding residents of the July 24 deadline.
And, of course, there is WhatsApp. Groups are being used to spread the word about voter enrolment and its importance, taking the SIR campaign from village streets straight to phone screens.
