Going beyond the usual registration drives, educational institutions and resident welfare associations (RWA) in Bengaluru have planned multiple events and programmes to fight urban apathy when it comes to voting ahead of the Lok Sabha elections on April 26.
This year, universities are holding conferences, street plays, and other activities like debate competitions to encourage students, many of whom are first timers, to cast their votes.
“Our voters’ registration drive on the campus was a huge success as we had many enrollments. We are also holding panel discussions and talks for students on the importance of voting, and how the democratic process in the country works considering the fact that we are one of the largest democratic countries in the world,” said Kiran Jeevan, Public Relations Officer, St. Joseph’s University.
He added, “We are also encouraging students to talk about the issues and concerns of the country like employment and how the student community can be a part of policy making and be participants in governance for the future of the country.”
Bengaluru City University (BCU) has partnered with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to promote voting among students. “Our students from the NSS units are involved in the SVEEP programme of the BBMP. We also recently had a general conference and workshop, as well as a street play for awareness creation. The university, the BBMP and affiliated colleges have planned many events together. The colleges are doing it on a micro level for their students,” said Lingaraja Gandhi, Vice-Chancellor, BCU.
Bengaluru’s voter turnout in the 2023 State Assembly elections was 54.53%, whereas in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bengaluru South recorded 54.2%, Bengaluru North 50.84%, and Bengaluru Central (50.84%).
Compulsory voting for residents, interactions with political candidates
With elections falling on Friday this time and many planning to travel to make use of the long weekend, the RWAs have devised new ways to ensure that voting does not take a hit.
“We want everyone to compulsorily vote and maybe then travel wherever they want. We have asked owners in our association to ask their tenants to compulsorily vote. We are also creating a WhatsApp group where all residents are supposed to update us once they are done with voting,” said H.E. Chandrashekar, secretary, Federation of HSR Layout RWA.
The Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) has a three-pronged approach for elections under the the ‘Every vote matters’ campaign – voter registration camps, creation of awareness about candidates, parties and manifestos, pushing for participation on voting day.
“In this direction, we recently had a Town Hall meeting with a few candidates from all four constituencies which will be circulated to among all our members. We are also facilitating cluster-level meeting for candidates to meet voters,” said Vikram Rai, general secretary, BAF.
He added that on election day, many also maintain a voting percentage log at the community level so that it promotes a healthy competition to vote.
