In a unique initiative to ensure participation of all in upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Sirmaur district administration in Himachal Pradesh would send postcard invites to all 90,000 families to vote on 19 May. The district administration has launched ‘Jagruk Matdata, Loktantra Ka Bhagya Vidhata’ campaign under which postcards would be sent to all households to encourage them for voting.

The postcards, which will be delivered by postman in each household in Sirmaur district, will also encourage the families to register youth who have attained 18 years of age on January 2019. The postcard invite will urge and guide new voters to contact their Booth Level Officer at nearest polling station or SDM or District Election Office to register themselves.

Talking about the initiative, Sirmaur Deputy Commissioner Lalit Jain said traditionally, locals used to send postcards and later invitation cards to invite near and dear ones for social functions. The same method has now been converted to social media platforms but in rural areas where the reach of these platforms is very low as remote areas of Shillai, Sangrah and other hilly areas of district, these medium lose their efficacy.

Some areas of the district even had mobile network communication issues and this makes it tough for the administration to communicate various messages regarding the poll process.

“In order to curb the information gap between rural masses who generally miss various calls for registration of new voters, we have decided to send postcards to all families to inform them about initiatives of Election Commission of India,” he said.

The postcards would also appeal the voters to take part in polling and the main objective behind the campaign was to ensure 100 percent voters registration and polling in the district, he added.

The district administration is hoping that the personal message or letter from Deputy Commissioner would evoke desired response from all and the campaign would bring desired results in the district.

The postcards will bear the signature of Deputy Commissioner and these will be delivered to all households in coming days. So far, the district administration had sent such postcards to 25,000 families in rural area and remaining families will soon be covered under the campaign.

The district administration has collaborated with Postal Department for the campaign and the details of all households in a particular area have been taken from the postman to ensure that the message reaches all families.

Sirmaur district, which is on the outer Himalayas commonly known as Shivalik range, has over 3,59,000 voters.