‘Right to Vote’ campaign in Manipal

In an effort to create awareness on exercising franchise among young voters, ‘Right to Vote’ campaign was organised at School of Communication, Manipal on Tuesday.

The campaign was organised by the first year BA Media and Communication students, in collaboration with the CWC and the Gram Panchayat Hakkottaya Andolana.

“You are the millennial voters and can make a difference because you are the only mediators to bring about change,” said Shivanand Shetty.

He is serving as Assistant Director of the Bengaluru-based Concerned for Working Children (CWC), a non-profit NGO that is working for the empowerment of children as well as youth.

The Campaign was flagged off by the coordinator of the CWC organisation Kripa Bhat, CWC Assistant Director Shivanand Shetty, and the Director of School of Communication, Manipal, Dr Padma Rani.

The campaign was an open discussion initiated by the guests and students expressed views, shared opinions and posed questions like: “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?”, “How can I, as an individual, contribute to upholding the Democracy of our country?”

Everyone who attended the campaign pledged ‘Me and My vote are not for sale’ and ‘I will always strive to ensure that my vote is not reduced to a ‘Commodity’ that can be purchased and sold.’