SHILLONG: The Election Commission (EC) with its road shows and other initiatives has become more aggressive than the contesting candidates to woo voters to the polling booths.
Amid the low-key campaign by various parties and candidates, the winner now is the EC.
As many as ten road shows were carried out by the EC recently which attracted voters across the state.
The EC through Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Kharkongor has gone all out to talk about democratic responsibilities associated with voting.
Kharkongor said the office did this with ten road shows covering 10 towns on 10 market days in collaboration with Red FM and reached out to hundreds of future voters in the run-up to the February 27 polls.
According to Kharkongor, the road shows were participative and successful in drawing good crowd from a cross section of voters.
The towns and villages covered were Jowai, Nongstoin, Mawkyrwat, Mairang, Nongpoh, Khliehriat, Smit, Umsning, Pynursla and Dawki.
The road shows employed arts, wit, humour and songs to talk about the four verticals – enrolment and voting, EVM-VVPAT, informed ethical voting and millennium voters – which are the key focus of the Election Commission’s SVEEP programme.
“We have witnessed that road shows have emerged as a highly effective way to reach out to the voters while combining elements of music and humour to highlight and drive home key messages on the threshold of elections,” Kharkongor said.
In a place where music is naturally embedded into the psyche and social life of the people here, music remains vital and relevant for capturing and sustaining the attention of the electorate, he said.
“All the districts were effectively roped in to provide support to the road-show teams and they have contributed meaningfully. With the build-up and public excitement, Meghalaya is on track and poll ready,” the CEO added.
On February 7, hundreds of passers-by stopped to witness the road show in Nongpoh and Umsning.
Red FM RJ Ray said, “We have been on the road for the last two weeks and promote the events on air too. The response has been natural and upbeat as people from various sections of society enthusiastically came forward to try their hands on the VVPAT machine. Besides, the lyrics of the songs have convincingly called people to vote responsibly and ethically.”
The Red FM RJs held the road shows by engaging with the floating audience, most of whom were young people.
The road show also witnessed artistes singing Phawar, where self-written songs that talked about EVMs and VVPAT were sung. The songs of Phawar star Pynshai Lyngdoh and other artistes, which were a mix of clarity of message, wit and humour, kept the crowd engaged.
The CEO’s representative, IZ Wreang, spoke about the advantage of EVM-VVPAT machine in all venues. The road shows were held alongside the democracy truck full of information and education materials from the election branch of the respective DC offices.
The SVEEP song Tarak Tak Tak by Summersalt and various artistes was also played several times to attract the crowd. Throughout the event, there were cross-cutting messages on informed ethical voting.
