Seethe and Gowri, the two octogenarian voters belonging to Jenukuruba tribal community near Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, were happily sitting under a tree shade after casting their vote at the ethnic booth in Nagapura Ashram School in Hunsur taluk. Both were waiting for the transport to return to their ‘haadi’ (settlement).
Like the two elderly women, many tribal women showed enthusiasm to cast their ballot at the booth which was specially decked up matching the tribal cultures. The Jenukuruba men too were seen waiting outside the booth waiting for others from their haadis to cast their vote.
The tribal settlements in Hunsur Assembly constituency witnessed voter awareness campaigns this year in view of the last election’s not-so-encouraging voter turnout.
The booth number 260 has 902 tribal voters hailing from five settlements in Nagapura, located en route Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. Since the area is dominated by tribals, two other ethnic booths have also been established in the area.
Both Seethe and Gowri said they never missed voting in the past elections.
Lakshman of the ashram school said voting picked up in the afternoon as people came in groups to exercise their franchise.
Reports reaching here said some voters could not cast their ballot as their names were missing in the electoral roll. “They had voter ID cards issued by the EC but their names were missing from the list and hence could not vote. Those whose names were missing had voted in the last election. They wondered why their names went missing despite being the permanent residents of Nagapura,” a local told The Hindu over phone.
Similar enthusiasm for voting was seen at K. Gudi ethnic booth in Chamarajanagar district where the women waited patiently in a long queue for their turn to cast their ballot.
