In an unique attempt to enhance the polling percentage the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) have decided to print the date of Polling on its milk packets to be supplied to the consumers when Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency goes to polls on April 18.
According to Suma, Deputy Director, KMF, Bengaluru, this initiative has been taken to increase the voting percentage. About 34 lakh litres of milk were produced across all milk unions in the State and the voter messages will be printed daily on the milk sachets.
About 7.5 lakh milk packets produced daily by the Mysuru Milk Union consisting Mysuru and Kodagu districts.Poll-related messages to educate people on their roles and responsibilities were being printed daily on milk sachets of all varieties. The messages — sourced from officers handling Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) in Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency — will be carried on the sachets until the elections are over. Different messages are being printed daily.
Milk sachets were used as a tool for carrying the voter awareness for the first time during the State Assembly elections last year and even they printed same in the previous lok sabaha polls also . On seeing the good response from the public, the KMF decided to print these messages on sachets for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections also.
M S Vijay Kumar, MD, Mysuru Milk Union, said that over three lakh litres of milk were produced daily at the Mysuru dairy and over 7.5 lakh sachets of milk (90 pc of sachets in half litre quantity) were supplied across the district. The effort will help to motivate the voters to visit polling stations and cast their votes”, he opined.
The measure won’t cost the union anything as messages were being printed on the films using ink-jet printers while printing other details on the sachets.
Sachets by other milk unions in the State were also carrying such messages. With voter turn out being an issue as the poll percentage in Mysuru Lok Sabha has never crossed 70% in the recent elections, several options are being carried out to bring voters to polling booths.
Unlike the last elections, compulsory voting messages were being printed on all kinds of milk packets (homogenised milk to special milk). This was done to reach the maximum number of voters.
