Show inked finger, sign up for free health card, check-ups & haircuts

Visakhapatnam:Ina move to drive home the point to the voters that participation in the electoral process is imperative, those belonging to diverse professional backgrounds come together to do their bit for society.

Nudging voters not to shy away from exercising their democratic right, doctors, teachers and hairstylists reach out to them in their own way ahead of the 2024 polls.

With the polling day is scheduled on Monday, the emphasis on fulfilling the civic duty gets louder in the city as many organisations and individuals initiated campaigns to increase voters’ turnout

Raising voter awareness, V Health Care and Dental clinic at Sankaramatam road is offering a free family health card to the first time voters, who are exercising their franchise.

In addition, those who are casting their votes could avail discounts for the health check-up carried out at the clinic. Highlighting the caption, ‘choose the right one...let your valuable vote win’, a hoarding was also placed at Madhuranagar junction in the city to draw the attention of the voters.

According to the director of the clinic KMK Ramesh and Health Care chief manager Chinnam Krishna, one can get BP, sugar, blood and dental tests done by producing the health card provided to them.

At G Boddaputtu hamlet of Hukumpeta mandal in Alluri Sitharama Raju district, secondary grade teacher (SGT) of Mandal Parishad Primary School Gamparai Venkata Ramana not just updated his WhatsApp status with scenes from movies underlining the importance of casting the vote but also reached out to the first time voters, motivating them to participate in the festival of democracy. “The exercise of building voter awareness started three months back. As teachers, if we do not educate people, then who else would? Exercising our franchise is the only effective weapon left to us and we should exercise it with our conscience,” advocates the SGT. Adding innovativeness to the awareness drive, a salon owner Malluvalasa Radhakrishna located at Kancharapalem Mettu decided to offer haircuts free of cost to those who exercised their franchise.

“All they have to do is show the inked-finger and avail the free service on Monday. I realised that many are reluctant to cast their vote even if it means once in five years. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to do my part to encourage the voters,” hairstylist reasons. With his friends reaching out to assist Radhakrishna plus extra staff engaged for the purpose, RK Smart The Salon is expected to witness a brisk business on Monday. In the meantime, a bunch of reels and memes are being circulated on social media platforms to motivate voters to exercise their franchise.