SVEEP campaign impacts voters

Shivamogga: A series of awareness programmes on voting conducted as a part of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign in Shivamogga seems to have impacted the voters of the district. The district has witnessed a 2.6% increase in poll percentage compared to the 2013 Assembly election. The poll percentage was recorded as 78.08% this year, against the 75.48% recorded in 2013.

For the last two months, more than 2000 events such as walkathons, kite flying, flash mobs, essay writing and painting competitions were held in the district under the SVEEP campaign. Awareness programmes on the importance of voting and demonstrations of the working of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trial (VVPAT) units were organised at weekly bazaars, annual fairs and other public gatherings.

However, it was the Shivamogga and Bhadravathi segments, which comprise mainly of urban voters, that the polling percentage was low compared to the overall percentage of the district. The Shivamogga segment recorded 66.58% polling while the Bhadravathi segment recorded 73.13%.