Official behind Election Expo Bus wants to ensure 100 pc voting in Cheyyar

Cheyyar constituency in Tiruvannamalai District now has an Election Exhibition on Wheels, a bus that goes around villages in the region to educate and inform citizens about the importance of casting one’s vote in the upcoming Assembly election.

The mobile exhibition is the brainchild of Dr T Prabhushankar, the Sub-Collector of Cheyyar. He and his team were in Chennai on Thursday along with the bus, to meet Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi. 

Speaking to DT Next, Prabhushankar says, “The idea behind the Exhibition on Wheels was to reach  people in about 60 villages in Cheyyar (Constituency No 68) that had the lowest voter turnout in the previous election. We thought instead of asking people to attend various awareness camps or programmes, it would be best if the exhibition went right to their doorsteps. So we collated data regarding the assembly election and made it palatable for everyone from a school student to a senior citizen.” 

The team relied on old school methods to ensure the message reached the maximum number of people. Prabhushankar explains, “A day before the Exhibition on Wheels reaches a village, a public announcement is done by our team, accompanied by traditional drummers who would go to places where people tend to congregate, like in the vicinity of temples, shandys, shopping areas or town centres. We plan to cover these 60 villages in a span of about 15 days. The response has been encouraging and we are hopeful of prompting 100 per cent voter turnout in our constituency with this exhibition.”