Mangalore, April 9. 2013:
By C D Souza
The District administration in Dakshina Kannada has been very proactive in creating voter awareness ever since the poll dates for the assembly elections in the state were announced. Ever since “SVEEP” (Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation Plan) to create voter awareness was launched in March there have been a series of programmes and campaigns to educate the voters. While SVEEP was launched during the tenure of DC N Prakash the awareness campaign gained momentum ever since Harsh Gupta took over as DC replacing Prakash on March 28, 2013.
The DC has categorically stated that ensuring smooth, free and fair elections is the focus of the district administration and that all out efforts will be made to create a conducive voting atmosphere in the district.
The triumvirates of DC Harsh Gupta, MCC Commissioner Harish Kumar and CEO K N Vijayaprakash have been working in tandem to implement Election Commissions orders, norms and also educate the masses on the importance of voting. They have been using multi-media campaigns to reach out to the people. Recently a voter awareness skit using Yakshagana concept was presented by the Students School of Social Works, Roshani Nilaya, at Bharat Mall, as part of the SVEEP programme.
The latest addition to the program of educating the masses on elections and voting has been the launch of video CD of mime show as part of the SVEEP programme by the DC. The district administration aims to display the mime CD on public places having high footfalls like multiplexes, theatres, bus stands and local television channels. The mime CD has four different promos of nine minutes of total duration.
Normally D K District and Udupi have recorded more than 70% voting in elections, which is quite high as compared to the average voting trend in the state. But this year the district administration is aiming a higher percentage of voting in D K District and the administration has been making concerted efforts in that direction to convince voters on the need to vote.
The district administration has also directed SHG’s, anganawadi Kendras and other organizations to organize voter awareness programmes and to reach out to as much population as possible.
The district administration has also made concrete arrangements to oversee acts of poll code violations by candidates and their supporters including going tech-savvy. For the first time in the district the administration has introduced smart phones to monitor poll code violations. A full-fledged Media Certification and Monitoring Committee cell has been put in place to check instances of paid news.
By educating the voters through voters awareness program and by keeping a strict eye on any malpractices and monitoring poll code violations the ensuing assembly elections is sure to witness less of problematic instances and more voter turnout in D K District.
