A walkathon to educate Bengaluru's millennial voters

BENGALURU: To bring voters out in large numbers on the election day, students of Malleswaram Ladies’ Association College appealed to the residents of Malleswaram to cast their franchise on May 12 when Karnataka goes to the polls.

The students, led by Kaveri Kedarnath, B.PAC Civic Leader, took out a walkathon in the area to educate the millennial voters, who will be exercising their franchise for the first time, and the general public.

It was part of a programme, Systematic Voters’ Education and Systematic Participation, launched by the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) in association with the BBMP to educate and encourage citizens to vote during the Assembly elections.

NGOs, the BBMP and the Election Commission have launched several programmes in urban areas to encourage voters to cast their franchise as the turnout in urban parts of the state has generally been low.

Ms Kedarnath, B.PAC Civic Leader of Malleswaram, said, “If citizens fail to participate, democracy ceases to exist. As citizens, we have to make our voice heard and the first step towards that is casting vote.”

Mr. Anand Theertha, member, B.PAC, Prof R. Madhavi, MLA first-grade college principal, B.PAC Co-ordinators Raghavendra and Swaroop were present at the programme. 

On Sunday, the Karnataka Election Commission and the BBMP are organising a "Lightning Registration" programme for the people to register for the voters’ list at all the 8,000 polling stations in Bengaluru. This will be the last opportunity for young voters and others to register themselves.