Housing societies offer incentives in bid to boost voter turnout

PUNE: Housing societies in the city left no stone unturned to boost voter turnout.
Some of the efforts undertaken included door-to-door visits to spread awareness, organizing competitions for 100% voting among societies, sponsoring awards for the largest group selfies at polling booths, special voters’ help desks as well as arranging for carpool services for residents and transportation for senior citizens.
“Society members in Baner, Balewadi and Pashan areas were asked to conduct contests and click selfies after voting. The day was treated as a festival with societies planning breakfast preparation sessions and setting up loudspeakers to play music,” said a member of the Baner Balewadi Pashan Residents’ Association.
The association also asked residents to ensure that senior citizens could travel to the polling centres and provided carpool services to those in need.Members of the Prabodhan Manch in Kalyani Nagar also went door-to-door and distributed leaflets explaining the importance of voting. “Some housing societies sent out text messages on their social media messaging groups with information to ease the voting process including directions to the booth,” said Kalyani Nagar resident Purnima Joshi.
A few housing societies decided to offer ‘voter discounts’ on monthly maintenance and other charges. The Pristine Classique housing society, Wagholi, reportedly offered a 5% cut in next month’s (May) maintenance for voters ahead of the polling day. Residents were told to submit selfies with inked fingers to avail the discount. The managing committee said the discount is applicable for one person, per flat.
Residents also took up the task to urge others to vote. A resident of Landmark Garden, Abhijeet Patel, went door-to-door to several societies in Kalyani Nagar, while volunteer group Team Swachh Kalyani Nagar set up a voter-registration drive with the ward office. Team Swachh has set up a booth (6.45am to 6pm) outside Kalyani Bungalow to help people find their booth, room and serial numbers.