VIJAYAWADA: Krishna district police have started an awareness campaign in the rural areas to encourage the people to cast their votes in the upcoming elections. In addition to performing their regular and election duties, the police took up the initiative to make people aware of the importance of getting their voice registered through their vote.
During their campaign, officials focused on the villages and areas that reported a low voter turnout in the previous years. Krishna district Superintendent of Police (SP) Sarvashresth Tripathi said the idea of launching an awareness campaign struck him just two weeks ago, when he was going through the statistics of the previous elections, held in 2014.
“While going through the data, I observed that 45 locations in seven assembly constituencies had reported a low voter turnout. Immediately, a meeting was organised and we planned to conduct awareness campaigns in those villages to interact with the residents. Our target is to ensure that at least 90 per cent of voters from these areas cast their votes on April 11,” said the SP.
As many as 45 locations, including colonies and villages in Machilipatnam, Pedana, Avanigadda, Gudivada, Jaagaiahpet, Nuzvid and Tiruvur constituencies, are the focus of the campaign, he said. Police of these assembly constituencies have been conducting sessions in various villages for the past two days, he added.
The response from the public was overwhelming. People expressed their happiness over police officials reaching their doorsteps and explaining the importance of voting.
“There were some villages where people did not even know how to cast their vote. We demonstrated how to use the EVM machine and our staff attended to all their questions about voting. Most people did not know how to use the EVM machine and that is why they chose to keep away from the polling booth on the days of election. We hope these awareness campaigns will bring about some positive change,” said the SP.
Idea struck SP as he was going through 2014 poll data
During their campaign, officials focused on the villages that reported a low voter turnout in the previous years. Krishna district SP Sarvashresth Tripathi said the idea of launching an awareness campaign struck him just two weeks ago, when he was going through the statistics of the previous elections, held in 2014.
“While going through the data, I observed that 45 locations in seven assembly constituencies had reported a low voter turnout. We then planned to conduct awareness campaigns in those villages,” said SP Sarvashresth Tripathi.