As the sun slowly disappeared on the horizon, so did too the district administration’s hopes of getting the people on Panambur beach excited about voting in the upcoming elections.
The setting was perfect. It was Sunday and the beach was teeming with people. The administration had already drawn up grand plans to educate people on the importance of voting.
These were being organised under the Systematic Voters’ Education And Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme and included a beach run, an election-themed sand art exhibition and an airplane that would fly sorties above the beach while releasing pamphlets among the thronging crowds below.
But it failed to take off.
Firstly the beach run had only 15 participants, despite the entire beach being lined with people.
These 15 had to be coaxed by the district officials to run the allotted 750m. To add insult to injury, the constant announcements by the officials asking people to vote got lost amidst all the din and clamour among the jostling people.
Next was the sand-art exhibition that fell victim to circumstances beyond the officials’ control.
A fellow sand-artist was getting married and so only two teams arrived on the beach to showcase their sand skills.
Though they did carve out the figure of the parliament and a man standing next to it, wondering whom to vote for.
And finally the much-anticipated airplane show managed to take off.
It did three sorties over the beach, enthralling everyone watching.
However the programme also called for pamphlets, stressing on the importance to vote, to be released on the people below.
