Though voting percentage in Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency was up by 2.74 percentage points when compared to the voting five years ago, the Election Commission’s effort to reach all voters appealing them to vote did not yield expected results. The Returning Officer and Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim and Chairperson of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) Committee Thulasi Maddineni had said that the block-level officers (BLOs) would ensure that all voters got the appeal letter (by the Returning Officer) at their doorstep while issuing the voters’ slip. The Returning Officer had also said that the BLOs, while issuing the slip, would ask the voters who did not vote in the last Assembly election the reasons for it and record them.
A cross-section of people with whom The Hindu spoke to said that many BLOs neither gave them the appeal letter nor did they bother to ask if they voted in the last elections or not.
Jayalakshmi from Shibaroor, near Kateel, said that the commission officials simply issued the voters’ slip and went away.
Vishwanath Devadiga of Kulai, Soumya and Shreya Devadiga of Padil, Naveen of Yekkur said that the officials did not issue them any appeal letters.
When the Hindu visited a booth at Moorje in Belthangady taluk on Thursday a BLO at the commission’s help desk had some voter identity cards.
Asked why he did not issue them at their doorsteps, he claimed that if he would have done so some of them would not have turned for voting due to lethargy. But he had conveyed them that the cards were ready and they could collect them at the booth. “I am expecting them to come here at least with an intention of collecting the cards,” he said.
‘Ends well’ Reacting to the appeal letter not reaching many Mr. Ibrahim told The Hindu , “All is well that ends well. That is how the government system functions.”
He said that sincere efforts had been made to motivate people to vote.
Mr. Ibrahim said of five lakh appeal letters he was not sure if even two lakh had reached people. They would have reached many if grassroots workers would have taken some more interest.
