The Hindu : Campaign to motivate voters launched

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 20, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Campaign to motivate voters launched

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MARCH 19. If you do not vote now, you could probably end up cursing tomorrow's government but have no real say in the way you are treated. This is the message the Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore (PAC), wants to drive home to voters.

Announcing the launch of the National Voter Motivation Campaign, 2004, the PAC Chairman, Samuel Paul, told presspersons today this was a follow-up to the efforts since 1996 to help voters get to know their candidates better. During last year's elections to some city municipal councils around Bangalore, the PAC revealed that many people in areas under the councils had no access to the affidavits filed by candidates disclosing their assets and any criminal antecedents. "The present campaign is funded by ourselves with help from some non-political corporate donors. TV channels and some FM radio stations have offered free time,'' Dr. Paul explained.

Ramanujam Sridhar of Brand-comm, the media house which planned the multi-media campaign, said cricket star Rahul Dravid and Kannada film actor Ramesh Arvind had lend their time for the visuals.

Brand-comm has made three short visuals which will now be seen on TV and heard on FM radio. Besides TV and FM radio, the campaign is to run on websites, the Voter Helpline in Bangalore (98443-13317), mass mailing, and SMS over cell phone networks. Posters will be displayed at vantage points in Bangalore and several other cities.

Over the past two weeks, the PAC has been interfacing with civic society groups in some Lok Sabha constituencies and preparing to form district election watch committees in districts.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka