Get out and vote, calls Delhi

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By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Delhi

TV advert encourages young people to vote

Election authorities in the Indian capital, Delhi, have launched a massive campaign to get millions of voters to participate in assembly elections.

Voting is on Saturday in this sprawling city-state of more than 14m people, 10m of whom are registered voters.

But over the past few years, voter turnout has been steadily declining - in 1993 it was 65.7%; in 1998 it came down to 49% and in last year's civic elections it was 43%.

That, says Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer Satbir Silas Bedi, is alarming.

"In a democracy, you can't have a scene where 57% of voters stay at home. That means the representatives are chosen by fewer and fewer people."

'Not a priority'

Mrs Bedi says there are several reasons why voters stay at home or go off to do other things.

"People would rather go to watch a movie, go to the mall, do anything but vote. Voting is not a priority.

Chief officer Bedi is hoping for a better turnout this time

"And in the city, the elite think why should we bother to stand in a queue? Why should we stand where so many people are standing? All this together has been leading to a lower and lower turnout."

To right this wrong, the authorities are making a big push to educate the voter.

Dozens of colourful advertisements have been placed in newspapers and catchy jingles are being played over and over again on FM radio stations and television channels.

The campaign, a take on this year's hugely popular Bollywood number Pappu can't dance saalaa (Bloody Pappu can't dance), especially targets the elite and the young.

Fashion statement

"Pappu is a character who has everything in life, he has the best of everything, he holidays in France, he can buy designer shoes, he has a fab body and good eyes," explains Mrs Bedi.

"Because he cannot dance, his friends call him a Pappu, they make fun of him - because you can't dance so you're not one of us. You're not cool, you're not in fashion."

The campaign makers substituted the word dance with vote and got the message they wanted to send out.

Anjana says getting a voter ID card should not be so hard

"You're not cool if you don't vote. It's not a smart thing to sit at home or go to the mall or watch a movie," Mrs Bedi says.

The campaign's catch phrase promotes the indelible ink mark the voters get after voting as "Delhi's new fashion statement".

The effort seems to be showing some results.

In the airy corridors of the city's Hindu college, young students of history say they are excited at the prospect of voting.

"Of course I will vote. I voted in the municipal elections last year. I'm excited about voting - it's the most important right we have in a democracy, we must exercise it," says Shahana Khan.

Shahana says many in her peer group think voting doesn't matter.

"They say one vote won't count so why go through the trouble? But I say that is wrong. I say no, this is your right. How can you be so ignorant? You believe it doesn't count, but believe me, every vote counts."

'Not supportive'

Classmate Anjana says many young people get put off by the difficulties they have to go through to get a voter ID card.

Prof Ratan Lal is asking his students to go out and vote

"I applied last year, but I didn't get my card. I tried again this year and I had to run around a lot. I had to go five times to get my name, then surname, then address corrected. The government was not supportive at all. If getting an ID requires so much effort, how can I be inspired to vote?"

But now that Anjana has got her voter ID card, she says she will join the queue on Saturday to cast her ballot.

But there is another - and more perplexing question on her mind - who to vote for?

The contest is primarily between the governing Congress Party and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been attending seven to eight public meetings a day asking the voters to give another chance to her Congress Party.

Her party has been campaigning on the issue of development - it has been listing the miles of highways built, the number of metro stations opened, the thousands of houses built for the poor and the measures taken to improve the status of the girl child.

Making a mark

The BJP's candidate for Chief Minister, VK Malhotra, has been catching up with walkers out on their morning stroll in the sprawling Lodhi Gardens to hard sell the advantages that would come from voting his party to power.

He has been boarding buses to tell commuters how his government would ease traffic jams, provide uninterrupted power and water to their homes and protect their city from a recurrence of bomb explosions which killed dozens a few months ago.

Shahana says voting is the most important right in a democracy

To spoil the party for the two main parties, the low-caste Dalit leader from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati, has also thrown her hat in the election arena.

Ms Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been slowly - but surely - making a mark with the voter, arguing that the two main parties have been unable to tackle terrorism, illegal immigration and unsafe roads.

Professor Ratan Lal, a member of Exercise Franchise for Good Governance (EFG), says: "Poverty, discrimination, traffic, water, electricity and health problems all can be eliminated through voting.

"If 70-80% people vote, it'll be a warning to the government that if they don't behave responsibly, they will be voted out in the next election."

Prof Lal's advise to his students is "go out, cast your vote and change the world".

That is what the chief electoral officer, Mrs Sethi, is hoping.

"I expect a much better turnout this year. We hope they'll come out in large numbers.

"People don't have to go far to cast their votes, polling stations are close by, information is easily accessible, it's only a 60 to 90-minute job. And once in five years, people can surely afford to do that," she says.