PATNA: Election officials have initiated several measures to sensitise voters to the need to come out and exercise their franchise in the ongoing assembly elections.
The Union government has sent a specially-modelled vehicle for the purpose. Actually a photo exhibition on wheels, it was inaugurated by district election officer Jitendra Kumar Sinha at the Boring Road intersection here on Monday. It depicts pictures of women, elderly and rural voters casting their votes. A banner is also put up; it gives details of various assembly segments going to the polls in the coming days.
The vehicle has been sent by the directorate of advertisement and visual publicity (DAVP), a wing of the Information and Broadcasting Corporation of India.
“We have seen the impact of information, education and communication in the first two phases of elections with an average of 50% voters casting their votes,” senior Press Information Bureau official Arun Kumar Verma told TOI and added these initiatives were planned three months ago when senior EC official Akshay Kumar Raut was in town.
The exhibition will be held in different parts of Patna district, before being driven to other districts like Saran and Vaishali. The vehicle, however, did not cover the districts which went to the polls in the first two phases of elections on October 21 and 24.
Meanwhile, huge `Yuva Shakti’ banners have also come up in various parts of the city, urging people to come forward to vote. Footage featuring former President APJ Abdul Kalam, famous Bhojpuri singer Sharda Sinha and Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni is also on the air with voters being appealed by them to exercise their franchise. Jingles for the purpose are being broadcast on Radio Mirchi and AIR.
Street plays and road shows have already been held at 144 locations in the city, district election officer Sinha said and added altogether 38 teams have been formed for undertaking such activities.
On Wednesday, a 4.5-km marathon race has been organized from the legislative assembly premises to the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park. It will be flagged off by chief electoral officer Sudhir Kumar Rakesh at 7.30 am.
Read more: Exhibitions, road shows to bring voters to booth – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Exhibitions-road-shows-to-bring-voters-to-booth/articleshow/6809907.cms#ixzz13UwbDRH7