In a heart-warming initiative, one lakh students from Assam’s Kamrup district penned heartfelt postcards to their parents, urging them to fulfil their civic duty by voting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The campaign titled – Maa-Deutaloi Votdanor Ahbaan or An Appeal to Mother-Father to Vote – initiated by the Kamrup Election District, aims to achieve a 100 per cent voter turnout during the district’s polling on May 7.
Keerthi Jalli, the district commissioner of Kamrup, expressed optimism about the emotional impact of children directly appealing to their parents, making them accountable to the future generation.
Aligned with the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation or SVEEP initiative, the campaign saw participation from one lakh students across 526 educational institutions in the district. Through their heartfelt messages, these students emphasised the importance of voting for a better future, a more participative democracy, and the overall growth of Bharat.
“I remember writing letters to friends as an assignment in school. It used to be an exercise we all looked forward to. The nostalgic joy associated with receiving a stamped letter in your name from a postman is unparalleled,” she added.
The postcards will be dispatched in collaboration with the Postal department to ensure prompt delivery to the parents within 15 days.
Each postcard bears the stamps of ‘Kamrupa’ and ‘Luit’, representing the black softshell turtles, which serve as the election mascots of the district.
Upon receiving the postcards, students will be encouraged to capture selfies with their parents alongside the postcards. Jalli emphasized the significance of this writing exercise, aimed at instilling the value of letter writing in a generation largely reliant on computers and smartphones.
As the students are from high schools, these children will always remember this message of importance of voting and as they grow into their adulthood, they would carry on their democratic duties by casting their votes on time, stated Jalli, also the district election officer.
“With a target of one lakh households, we intend to touch at least seven lakh people that would include the parents and grandparents, which is 90 per cent of our voter population,” said Kamrup District Development Commissioner and SVEEP Cell in-charge Susanta Kumar Dutta.
“The remaining 10 per cent youth voters are being targeted differently,” he added.
