Resident bodies like RWAs of various societies, managements of CGHS(Cooperative Group Housing Societies), Dwarka Forum, Association of Neighbourhood Ladies Get-together(ANHLGT), Sukh Deukh Ke Sathi(SDKS) and many more such bodies in Dwarka are making efforts to achieve maximum voting in the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections on December 4, 2022.
These bodies have been carrying campaigns to sensitise the people to go for voting. The mode and medium of awareness are different but all are focussed on increasing the voting percentage in the sub-city. This is being done through meetings, circulars, messages, WhatsApp groups, Facebook, emails etc.
Cicily Kodiyan, President of ANHLGT and a resident of Sheetal Vihar Apartments, Sector 23, informs that they're trying their best to sensitise people to go vote. She says, “We are organizing activities in societies across Dwarka in which community members participate so that we can appeal to people to come out and vote for their civic body's representatives using voting the power of democracy.” Cicily said that the councillors are the closest public representatives to the community and so the voting percentage must be high in the MCD elections. “For our civic issues, the councillors are the first to approach so we must vote in the election,” she adds.
Sukh Dukh Ke Sathi, a resident body of senior citizens have started discussing the importance of voting in their regular meetings. President of SDKS and a resident of Sadbhavana Apartments Apartments, Sector 22, SS Mann says, “We regularly meet in the park and certain subjects and voting is a major subject these days. We have already started a campaign by spreading the messages through WhatsApp groups.”
Dwarka Forum, a resident body of Dwarka has been carrying campaigns in the sub-city to motivate the community to exercise their voting rights. President of Dwarka Forum and a resident of Netaji Subhash Apartments Sector 13 Sushil Kumar says, “We always make the community aware about their voting rights. We are motivating people through emails and from next week more initiatives would be taken in this direction. We will communicate with more residents through WhatsApp messages and soft cards. We want a hundred per cent voting from the sub-city.”
According to data and social observers in Dwarka, the voting percentage from the societies had been low in the polls earlier. This time the RWAs and managing committees are serious about the increase in voting percentage.
General secretary of Seniors Hub Dwarka and a resident of Har Sukh Apartments, Sector 7, Ravi Jaitely says, “We must vote in this MCD election as our daily life is associated with the issues under the jurisdiction of MCD. If we chose the councillor of our choice then it would be easier to approach and manage the issues on the ground. So we, the team of Seniors Hub Dwarka have already started a community campaign in the sub-city using our contacts and network to motivate everyone to vote.”
Some community members are also trying to make the community aware of voting rights. A social activist and resident of Crescent Apartments, Sector 18A, Madhu Dagar is one such individual who is working in this direction. She says, “I always talk about the need to exercise our voting right in every meeting I have and during morning or evening walks at the park. This is our democratic right and we must use it. I appeal to the people of Dwarka that if each individual would appeal to at least one person to vote, then we can certainly achieve hundred per cent polling."