District Collector M.G. Rajamanickam has attributed the rise in polling percentage to the successful conduct of voter awareness programmes taken up under the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP).
According to him, the ‘Vote Vandi’, which was operated to enhance polling percentage through familiarisation, received encouraging response from across the district. Using actual voting machines, it offered people practical training in vote on machines, besides introducing the VVPAT machine to voters.
Attempts to reach out to first-time voters by sending out letters to over 50,000 to them also paid rich dividends, he said. The letters, requesting them not to waste their valid votes, evoked positive reaction, with most youngsters sending replies appreciating the initiative.
Besides, poster exhibitions were organised, and student police cadets were made to take oath to ensure that their parents cast their votes.
