Mangaluru : Dakshina Kannada SVEEP committee Dr. M R Ravi, IAS, Chairman – SVEEP; Mr. Sudhakar, District Adult Education Officer & SVEEP Nodal Officer and Mr. Babu Devadiga, Principal, Karnataka Polytechnic (KPT) College visited the campus and conducted Election Awareness Programme for First Year Engineering students. The programme was conducted with a view to create awareness among students regarding the importance of voting in a democratic country like India.

SVEEP is a programme of multi interventions through different modes and media designed to educate citizens, electors and voters about the electoral process in order to increase their awareness and participation in the electoral processes.

The programme started off with Mr. Sudhakar leading the students and the faculty through the voter’s pledge. He urged the students to take part in the democratic process by casting their vote and help build a stronger nation. Dr. M R Ravi speaking to the students, explained as to why it is important to vote and its role in holding the democratic essence. He explained the objective of SVEEP initiative and spoke about the different activities that are conducted to spread awareness about elections. He discussed the objectives of the SVEEP programmes, one being the accessibility at the polling station and the right of every voter’s. He shared his 24 years of experience working as election observer and superintendent.

Further, Dr. Ravi explained about the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and the new option NoTA (None of The Above) for the voters to be used when they are not happy with the candidates contesting for the election. He emphasized on the government’s programme for massive early preparedness by the public for the election through SVEEP awareness programmes. He requested the college to establish Electoral Literacy Club with students as its members and also to nominate students as Campus Ambassador to spread the awareness about the importance of participating in fair elections.

The Principal Dr. Umesh M Bhushi, gave the presidential remarks and urged the students to actively participate in the process of strengthening democracy and building good governance.