It was a pleasant surprise for members of Narikurava community when officials brought a huge van with a model polling booth to their settlement located far away from the city here.
The Election Department has intensified its Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign in the areas where the polling percentage was low in previous elections. As part of SVEEP campaign, the Election officials brought the model polling booth on the van to demonstrate on how to cast vote through electronic voting machine (EVM) in the forthcoming polls.
Chrompet, a septuagenarian woman said, “During election time, we normally would go to the polling booth which is located at a school nearly 4 km away from here and we would press the button of the machine as per the direction of the officer. We were not aware as to whom we had voted. But this time, the officers trained us on how to use EVM.”
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“Even political parties have not knocked on our doors still, but these officers came to us with real-time polling system on the van. We learnt how to vote in the polling booth and they also explained that we have the option of not willing to vote for any of the candidates by exercising NOTA,” said Mallika, another Narikurava woman.
Narikuravas and few other tribes live in the Narikuravar colony adjacent to Lawspet. Originally they were hunters and gatherers and had to quit their traditional occupation because of strict forest protection laws. The members of Narikurava now earn livelihood by selling sell beads, jewellery and toys on beach road and other areas of the city.
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The officials explained to them the step-by-step approach to be adopted at the polling booth.
They also imparted tips on showing their elector photo identity card (EPIC) on entry into booth or any other card up to exit of the polling booth.
Narikuravas were allowed to press the button of EVM which was kept inside the model polling booth.
Ethical voting emphasised
An official said, “This exercise was conducted to ensure 100 per cent polling in the UT. We also laid emphasis on the ethical voting.”
They were advised to exercise their votes as per conscience and to reject any inducement for voting.