Danny Jacob, a first-time voter, was quite thrilled that he would be going home at Thiruvalla in Kerala to cast his vote in the Lok Sabha elections. On Wednesday, the I Year MBA student of Sankara Institute of Management Science in the city was into the task of sensitising youth to the right to vote; voting as an obligation of every citizen of this country.
AwarenessMr. Jacob was among the close to 200 students of the institution who staged a skit that contained the message on the importance of voting at the busy commercial hub of Gandhipuram. They also put up a banner for people to sign on and even write out a promise that they would certainly vote in the upcoming elections.
J.K. Preetha, another first-time voter and II year MBA student, vowed to vote. “The youth have to turn up at polling stations in large numbers and vote for a change in the way the government is run,” she said. “We need more security for women and quality in education. And, there is too much urban-centric development” she said.
“Faculty members also joined our campaign at which we told the youth among the public who watched us that unless they voted in large numbers good education and better job opportunities would be hard to get,” said Mr. Jacob.
Joint secretary of the Sankara Educational Institutions P.R. Kalyanaraman, said “We organised the event targeting the youth, who seem rather hesitant to cast their vote. We gave the task of sensitisation to our students because it is better the youth interact with the youth rather than elders telling them on voting rights. This way, the message is absorbed quickly and effectively. A positive change will come if the entire youth force votes.”
Handbills“People in the U.S. vote with pride. This has to happen in our country whose population largely consists of youth. We also distributed among the public handbills containing the significance of voting right,” said deputy joint secretary of the institutions Nithya Ramachandran.
