“We need to focus on urban areas to create awareness about voting as the voting in cities tends to be less than in villages,” Principal District and Sessions judge R.J. Satish Singh said in Belagavi on Saturday. “Every one should carry out his electoral responsibilities if they want to declare that they are citizens of this country,” he added. He was speaking at the National Voters Day programme in Kumar Gandharva Rang Mandir.
“If democracy is to survive, everybody should vote. India is the biggest democracy. But our polling percentage seems to be falling, at least in areas like cities. In some cities, people are not voting despite polling day being a holiday. This should stop. We should aim for 100% voting,” he urged.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Ashok Dudagunti urged the youth to come forward and spread the message of responsible voting. He expressed concern that the educated were shying away from voting.
Zilla panchayat CEO K.V. Rajendra regretted that youth would think twice about spending ten minutes at a polling booth. He recalled the efforts of B.R. Ambedkar and his team in drafting the Constitution. He asked everyone to vote without fear or favour and emerge as champions of democracy.
Police Commissioner B.S. Lokesh Kumar handed out electoral ID cards to first-time voters. Awards were given to students who participated in competitions on voting. District SVEEP committee members and others were present.
Earlier, a jatha was taken out by students to create awareness about voting.
