On a day when several enlightened sections have criticised the apathy of IT professionals in exercising their right to franchise in the GHMC elections, Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA), a body of techies, has stressed the need for alternative ways.
Founder of TITA Sundeep Kumar Makthala said here on Tuesday that techies had showed less inclination towards exercising their franchise in GHMC polls. Over 80% of the employees working in the IT and ITES sectors had stayed away from polling due to many reasons.
Speaking after casting his vote along with his wife in Gachibowli, Mr. Makthala said there was an urgent need to address the concerns of the techies in order to help them take part in the democratic process and subsequently increase polling percentage in future elections. He stated that about 5.82 lakh employees were working for the IT and ITES sectors in Hyderabad and a majority of them were now working from their homes in their hometowns. “Over 80% of the IT employees are working from home due to Covid-19 conditions and were unable to cast their vote resulting in a sharp decline in the voting percentage of techies, eventually affecting the overall polling percentage,” he said.
Stating that another major reason for less voting among techies was that about 25% of them were from Hyderabad while the rest were from other States and they hardly show any interest in casting their votes in the civic body polls. He suggested that techies should be given the option of casting vote online or through a postal ballot and it would not only address the issue of low turnout in polling and would ensure higher polling percentage.
