EC hoardings, posters catch residents’ eye

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 10

Unipoles and hoardings, which earlier spoke about the achievements of the state government, have now given way to election awareness boards, encouraging the city people to cast their vote.

Shuttler Sania Nehwal, Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra and singer Gurdas Maan are star campaigners in this awareness drive of the Election Commission.

The board featuring Nehwal reads: “Smash the corruption, serve your state, ace these elections”. “Reload your right, aim for progress, shoot your vote, win a golden state” is the message by shooter Abhinav Bindra.

Taking a cue from the craze for cricket in India, a board reads: “IPL da cha, desh de chona da vi fikar karo, jina hatheen bhavikh desh da una bare zikar karo” (You are crazy about IPL but just be worried about elections as well, do talk about those in whose hands lies the future of our country).

Yet another interesting board shows a woman applying bindi on her forehead and the tag line on the board reads: “Time to decorate the city with your vote”. Also urging elderly people to cast their vote, a board shows a stick with the slogan: “We are always incomplete without you”.

“Eighty boards creating awareness among voters to cast their vote have been installed on the uniploes in the city. Apart from the uniploes, banners and boards urging the voters to cast their vote have also been put up. The content of the boards has been prepared by the Election Commission. Maximum turnout during elections is the main objective of the move,” said Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Ravi Bhagat.

Gagan Makhija, a city resident, said seeing these boards was so refreshing. These days elections is the talk of the town and everybody is getting prepared for it. These boards go with the spirit, she said.

Senior citizen Harjinder Singh said everybody knows what the government is doing and we need not know it through hoardings. 

“Boards encouraging voters to vote is a remarkable move. The election scene in the city is hotting up and these awareness boards are surely instilling a sense of responsibility among the voters,” he said.

I would recommend that boards with messages on social equality, brotherhood, pollution control etc should also be put up and the name of the sponsor can be given as a footnote.