National Voters’ Day was celebrated in the city on Thursday to create electoral awareness among citizens and to encourage them to participate in the electoral process by exercising their franchise.
The event was organised jointly by the district administration, District SVEEP Committee and Mysuru City Corporation. Principal District and Sessions Judge Prabhavati Hiremath who inaugurated the programme called upon the voters to exercise their franchise without fear or being swayed by any inducements.
She said the National Voters’ Day is celebrated as a festival across the country and every individual aged 18 years and above was eligible to get their names registered in the electoral rolls. Ms. Hiremath called upon the youth aged 18 years and above to get their names enrolled and called for creating greater awareness about it. It was pointed out that though 80,000 new names of eligible persons was to be enrolled, only 50,000 names have been registered so far in the district.
Ms. Hiremath also spoke on the ratio of male to female voters in Mysuru district and pointed out that there were more female voters in the district than male.
Former international cricketer Javagal Srinath who is a SVEEP ambassador said that the eligibility to exercise one’s franchise was a precious right and the youth should cast their vote compulsorily. B.G. Dinesh, Senior Civil Judge and Member Secretary of District Legal Services Authority, said that being a democratic setup, voting was important and those eligible should cast their vote without fear. He noted that the voting percentage tends to be higher in rural areas compared to urban areas and called for ensuring higher polling percentage in the cities and towns as well.
He said voting was a precious right and one should not be induced by money which amounts to selling oneself. Mysuru ZP CEO K.M. Gayatri said that NVD is celebrated since 2011 and its objective was to create awareness of voting among first-time voters.
The authorities also distributed Electors Photo ID Card to those who had attained 18 years of age and were first time voters. In addition, 22 Booth Level Officers were felicitated in recognition of their work.
Additional Deputy Commissioner R. Lokanath, ZP Deputy Secretary Krishnam Raju, International Yoga exponent Khushi, and others were present.
