Mysuru, Apr 3 : After a big success of Tribal booths in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections, the District administration has decided to double the number and set up six Polling booths specially to attract Triabal voters in Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha constituency where Polling will be held in the First phase on April 18.
Last year, three booths had been set up which was well received by the Adivasi voters and consequently the poll percentage in those booths had seen considerable rise, thanks to enthusiastic voting by the inhabitants of tribal settlements.
The booths had been identified based on the population of Tribals living in the vicinity. And the initiative is to bring them to the polling booths and participate actively in the ?Festival of Democracy?.
Incidentally, such booths will be located close to the ‘haadis’, which are either inside the forests or on the forest fringes, to facilitate them to vote at ease.
Each voter will be given a sapling, mostly fruit-bearing plant, after showing their inked finger, as a token of appreciation, at the tribal booths. Some NGOs working for the welfare of tribal community had joined the initiative.
Mysuru Zilla Panchayat CEO Jyothi, who is heading the SVEEP activities, said that more tribal booths had been planned in this election based on the response they got in the last Assembly elections.
The government ashram school at Mathur colony in Rajiv village and the Government Higher Primary School at Appalathi village in Periyapatna taluk; ashram schools at Shettihalli and Nagapura in Hunsur Taluk and ashram schools in Basavanagiri Haadi and Benzahalli colony in H.D. Kote taluk, which are the polling booths, have been identified for transforming them into Tribal booths. Artistes roped in for the purpose will recreate the booths resembling a Tribal ‘Haadi’, bringing in elements that make Adivasis feel at home when they come for voting, Jyothi said.
Though a part of Mysuru district, H.D. Kote comes under Chamarajnagar Lok Sabha constituency.
H D Kote, Hunsur and Periyapatna constituencies have a large population of Tribals, particularly Jenu Kurubas. H D Kote Taluk has the largest population of forest-based Tribals. Mysuru district alone has over 212 tribal settlements spread across H D Kote, which is also reckoned to be backward, Hunsur, Periyapatna, and Nanjangud constituencies. H.D. Kote is the only taluk in the State where indigenous forest-based tribal people live.
The Jenu Kuruba community is an indigenous tribe that lost its traditional way of life after Bandipur Tiger Reserve was established.
