Hyderabad, April 5 (IANS) Hundreds of citizens from different walks of life Sunday participated in a unique walk here to create awareness among people to cast their vote.
LetsVote movement organised “pledge to vote 5k walk” from People Plaza, Necklace Road to the state secretariat, the seat of governance.

The participants including businessmen, IT employees and sportspersons took the oath that they will exercise their franchise in this month’s elections.

“This great nation deserves participation from each one of us in the electoral process, to make the nation mightier, stronger and beautiful than ever,” they pledged.

Chief Electoral Officer of Andhra Pradesh I.V. Subba Rao administered the oath and flagged off the walk.

Former All England badminton champion P. Gopichand, founder and national coordinator of LetsVote movement J.A. Chowdary and other eminent personalities from various walks of life took part in the walk.

Organisers said the need for such a campaign was felt, as a large chunk of voters, especially the educated ones, were not exercising their franchise. For instance, the upmarket Jubliee Hills area here registered a mere 22 percent turnout in the last elections.

“I pledge to vote because our new generation’s future depends on it,” said Chowdary in his speech on the occasion.

He claimed the movement was getting stronger and receiving support from every section of the society. “Our movement is no more confined to region now and we are delighted to announce LetsVote now a national movement,” he said.

LetsVote movement was started by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Hyderabad Chapter along with prominent citizens of the Andhra Pradesh capital in December 2008.

TiE is a global non-profit organisation focused on promoting entrepreneurship. The movement has expanded its footprints in Vijayawada, Vishakapatanam, Guntur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Kolkatta.

The campaign mission is to raise awareness among the youths, corporate citizens, professionals, new and future voter community, to come forward and join the electoral process.

Since its launch the organisers conducted series of walks, debates, SMS campaign and neighbourhood community interactions to increase the awareness among the citizens to register and cast their vote. The campaign generated over 100,000 new voter registrations from corporates and student community since its launch.

A woman participant in her message said: “I pledge to vote because I’m tired of having my rights as a woman taken away from me. And I need someone who will listen to what I need.”

Another student volunteer said: “I pledge to vote because I no more wish that someone steal my identity and vote.”