Campaigns to goad voters to start afresh in Bangalore

Bangalore, May 17 (IANS) So what if Bangalore's voters showed least enthusiasm to vote in the Lok Sabha polls, despite the city seeing a large number of campaigns goading people to vote? As the 2009 verdict is out, campaigns in Bangalore are all set to start afresh for the year 2013 right now.

'We're now targeting the assembly election of Karnataka set for 2013 and 16th Lok Sabha election of 2014. For the 15th Lok Sabha polls, we started the countrywide campaign only six months back. So we did not receive much success. But we're sure our long and steady campaign for next five years will surely make a huge difference,' Vandana Krishnan of Janaagraha, a Bangalore-based NGO, told IANS.

Janaagraha in association with Tata Tea started the nationwide campaign 'Jaago Re! One Billion Votes'.

The voting turnout in Bangalore left both candidates and political analysts baffled. A little over 45 percent of the total six million electorate in three Lok Sabha constituencies of Bangalore exercised their franchise when the city voted April 23.

Naveen Pishe, chairman of Round Table India (Karnataka chapter), said they would continue with their campaign asking voters to cast their ballot.

'Voting is a primary responsibility of all citizens. If citizens are ignoring their duties, it is essential to remind them of their responsibilities and we would continue doing that,' said Pishe.

Round Table India, under its campaign 'Let's Vote', initiated a door-to-door campaign in Bangalore. Around 40 volunteers of the organisation had touched base with 60,000 households across Bangalore's three constituencies during their month long campaign.

The other campaign that featured prominently in Bangalore was 'Sache ko chune, Achche ko chune' (Vote for honesty, Vote for good people) on television and in print, featuring actor-filmmaker Aamir Khan.

Several cine stars from the Kannada film industry, including popular actress Ramya and singer-actor Vasundhra Das, actively participated in television and radio programmes, asking people of the state to vote.

'It's a positive sign that campaigns would continue and inspire voters for forthcoming elections. Voters themselves have to analyse deeply why they need to vote. Otherwise, if voters continue shying away from voting, then the meaning of democracy will be at stake,' said political analyst Sandeep Shastri.