Hyderabad: Polling booth Ganesh spreads awareness among voters

♦ Pandal attracts diverse visitors, spreading awareness among new and existing voters

♦ Clay idols of human officers in polling booth settings promote civic engagement

Hyderabad: In anticipation of the upcoming State Assembly elections, the younger generation devised an innovative way to raise awareness about voter participation. Tech-savvy individuals in the Old City have set up a Ganesh Pandal with the theme ‘Polling Booth Ganesh,’ capturing the attention of everyone who passes by. They refer to this initiative as a blend of ‘devotion and awareness’ during this ensuing elections.

Future Foundation Society, which works for social causes, sets up a Ganesh idol at Lal Darwaza in Old City with a different theme every year. In 2023, the idol comprises forms to make the voters conscious of their duty.

Hyderabad is one of the cities that witnesses a fervent passion for the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The city becomes a perfect spot for various colourful Ganesh pandals. It houses some of the biggest, most sustainable and unique statues of Ganesh. Each year, thousands of colourful Ganesh idols of different shapes, sizes and makes for pandals, offices and homes are lined up on every other road during the 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festivities, and each year these techies installs a different Ganesh idol in a form of awareness and dedication.

The Future Foundation Society has been installing Ganesh pandals for the last 27 years. “For the last 13 years we have been making idols with different themes in an eco-friendly manner. This year too, observing the elections, the team has come up with the idea to raise awareness on the importance of voting among voters,” said Sachin Chandan, president of Future Foundation Society.

To create awareness among new voters and to increase the voting percentage, the team decided to make this Ganesh Chaturthi a responsive festivalto spread awareness on voting with ‘Polling booth Ganesh’ resembling the polling booth. In the theme, the techies have installed a Ganesh idol, cutouts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and two police officers. The team also made an EVM machine and ballot box with acrylic and electronic components. “With this, the voters are aware of both polling methods including Ballot box and EVM. For instance, we have ballot papers and EVM machines with the list of Ganesh idols in our society installed in the last 13 years, the voters (devotees) vote for the best Ganesh idol and put the ballot paper in the ballot box and also on EVM. With this we are giving the real time experience among voters, especially new voters,” said Sachin.

The Ganesh pandal attracts people irrespective of caste. Even some other community youngsters also visited to see the polling awareness. Venkatesh, a resident of Lal Darwaza said, each year these youngsters come up with unique themes and this year with forthcoming elections, they erected a Ganesh with a resembling polling booth which is significant for the voters, especially for new voters,” he added.

Ankita Neelam, a young girl said, “This is a real time voting experience visiting the pandal.”

Moreover, the team has also installed 5 more clay idols of humans as an officer present in the polling booth. Three sections were erected resembling the polling booth. The team also spread awareness among new voters about the procedures of polling booths.

In the past, the society took up different themes including Farmers of India ‘Time to Know Your Farmer’, during COVID-19 pandemic, the theme was on selfless service of Covid warriors including doctors, police and sanitation staff. In 2021, the theme was to create awareness on vaccines and Ganesh idol were placed on Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik-V. Chandrayaan-2 to salute the efforts of ISRO scientists in 2019 and during the Kerala floods, the idol was made in Kathakali style structure in 2018.