A sticker is being pasted on the entrance to a home in Perunthalaiyur panchayat, Erode district. It states residents is not going to obtain money for his or her votes
| Picture Credit score: GOVARTHAN M
Stickers with the message: “We is not going to take cash on this home to vote” have been pasted at over 1,000 homes in Perundalaiyur panchayat, Gobichettipalayam union by an Erode-based NGO, Yaan Basis, urging voters to solid their franchise sans cash.
4 villages within the panchayat: Kuttipalayam, Serayampalayam, Vengamedu and Perundalaiyur, coming underneath the Tiruppur Parliamentary constituency, have about 2,500 voters, and the NGO is working in the direction of creating consciousness that the “vote isn’t a product to be bought”. Consciousness messages within the type of stickers, banners, hoardings, and work on roads have come up throughout these villages up to now month, all stressing the message of not taking money for votes.
An consciousness board with a message that folks mustn’t take cash for votes, positioned in Perunthalaiyur panchayat, Erode district, as a part of an NGO’s consciousness marketing campaign
| Picture Credit score:
GOVARTHAN M
A.S. Krishnan, coordinator of the Basis, mentioned that as a substitute of instantly asking folks to not promote their votes, pupil volunteers began groundwork in January, by cleansing the graveyard and the general public bathroom and cleansing the banks of the Bhavani river. “As soon as folks began trusting us, we defined to them that the scholars had come not simply to scrub the village, however to carry a couple of change in mindsets,” he mentioned. Residents have been made conscious concerning the money for votes challenge by means of consciousness rallies, rangoli competitions and the distribution of pamphlets. “We instilled confidence in them and made them consider that they’ll carry a couple of change with out taking money for his or her votes,” he added.
Many village residents right here mentioned they’d vote for the candidate of their alternative as they have been a part of the marketing campaign.
Marketing campaign coordinator A. Anushree, a ultimate 12 months B. Com pupil and a local of Nambiyur, has staying within the village from January and is vested with the duty of reaching out to all the residents. “I met every household not less than three to 5 occasions, explaining to them that the change has to start with them,” she mentioned and added that many households even opposed the pasting of stickers on their doorways. “It was actually difficult to persuade them. However, I met with them regularly and finally, they supported us,” she mentioned.
Volunteers additionally carried out an all-party assembly and met the contesting candidates requesting them to not distribute money for votes.
Talking on situation of anonymity, an elected consultant mentioned, “If folks refuse to obtain money even after insistence, change begins.”
With six days left for the Lok Sabha polls on April 19, volunteers are hopeful that a change will start in these villages.
