Bangalore, Dec 21 (IANS) Hoping to ensure large-scale voter participation in the local polls early next year, a new campaign ‘Jaagte Raho!’ (Keep yourself awake) has been launched in Bangalore.
The campaign aims to coax and encourage Bangalore voters to make the forthcoming Feb 21 local elections to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) a successful democratic exercise.

After a gap of three years with no council, Bangalore will elect one. The last elections to the BBMP took place way back in 2001.

The campaign was launched Tuesday by Janaagraha, a city-based NGO working on urban governance in Bangalore. The national campaign aims to cover 10 cities in five years’ time.

”The poor urban voter turnout reflects not just apathy but cumbersome procedures and error rates in rolls. Jaagte Raho! is towards a change in all aspects,” Jasmine Shah, National Coordinator of Jaagte Raho!, told IANS.

“The campaign aims to recruit 5,000 volunteers as Area Voter Mitras, who will function as ‘your neighbourhood friend’ on voter issues, including facilitating fresh enrolment of voters,” Shah added.

The organisers of the campaign want to reach out to the grassroots to encourage and motivate citizens to engage themselves in democratic processes, including local elections.

Janaagraha had in association with Tata Tea launched a nationwide voter registration campaign Jaago Re! earlier, covering 35 cities in the country. The campaign was launched eyeing the 15th Lok Sabha elections in April-May this year.

“We want to ensure the success of BBMP elections by large-scale participation of voters. The local representatives (ward corporators) play an important role in solving local issues. Thus, citizens should choose the best person and this can happen when voters participate in the election in large numbers,” said Ramesh Ramanathan, co-founder of Janaagraha.

Some of the main objectives of the campaign are 90 percent voter registration, increase in voter turnout to 60 percent for all elections - local, state and national - reduction in complaints related to voter registration, identity cards through local aid and smoother flow of information for greater voter engagement.

For further details Bangaloreans can either log into www.janaagraha.org or write at jaagteraho@janaagraha.org or call at 080-41277105.

A little over 45 percent of the six million electorate in the three Lok Sabha constituencies in Bangalore had cast their ballot April 23, highlighting the voter apathy.