‘Right to Vote’ Campaign reclaiming the Symbol of Democracy

Team Udayavani, Mar 28, 2019, 6:44 PM IST

Manipal: ‘You are the millennium voters, and you can make a difference, because you are the only mediators to bring about change’, said the Assistant Director of the Concerned for Working Children (CWC), a non-profit non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Bangalore and known for empowering the children and youth, Mr Shivanand Shetty, at the ‘Right to Vote’ Campaign centralized on creating voting awareness amongst the new age voters, held at MAHE’s very own media institute – School of Communication, Manipal on Tuesday.

The Campaign was flagged off in the college Auditorium by the Coordinator of the CWC organisation Ms Kripa Bhat, Assistant Director of the CWC Mr Shivanand Shetty, and the Director of School of Communication, Manipal, Dr Padma Rani, and is organized by School of Communication, in joint collaboration with the CWC and the Grama Panchayath Hakkottaya Andolana.

The highlight of the ‘Right to Vote’ Campaign was the open-discussion initiated by the invited guests of the event, to tune-in to the views and opinions that the students, the young and energetic minds have on the concepts such as ‘Why should I, as an individual, cast my vote in the elections?’, ‘Does my vote actually make a difference?’, ‘What is my idea, on the kind of representative I would rather have, represent me?’, by course of which diverse, numerous opinions ultimately led to question ‘How can I, as an individual, contribute to upholding the Democracy of our nation?’

The Campaign is significant in understanding where the new-age voters’ perception of our electoral system stands, and also in deeply comprehending suggestive ways, by which each one of us can ensure the upliftment of our nation’s Democracy through zestful and dynamic participation especially by the youth and younger generation, who are the future of the nation.

The Campaign was concluded with a pledge taken jointly by all the students and delegates of the event, which conveyed the essence that ‘Me and My vote are not for sale, and I will always strive to emerge that my Vote is not reduced to a ‘Commodity’ that can be bought and sold.’