E-Paper
UP: Lucknow colleges offer extra marks to students to increase voter turnout
To take advantage of this offer, parents will have to visit the school on the day after the polling and show their inked fingers.
Lucknow's St. Joseph’s College will award those students an additional 10 marks whose parents cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections. Staff members who exercise their fundamental right to vote will get an extra day's salary. Voting in the Uttar Pradesh capital will take place in the fifth phase of the elections, on May 20.
St Joseph’s Group of Institutions' Managing Director Anil Agarwal told Times of India: "We have decided to award one-day extra salary to our staff who will vote while students will be awarded 10 extra marks. It can be 10 marks in a single subject, or divided into different subjects.”
“We have taken the decision with the aim to increase voting percentage in the Lucknow Lok Sabha polls, which goes to polls on May 20,” he added.
To take advantage of this offer, parents will have to visit the school on the day after the polling and show their inked fingers.
Meanwhile, Christ Church College has declared that students whose parents vote will receive an additional 20 marks, TOI reported. Furthermore, the college also organised a voting awareness rally in Gomtinagar, encouraging people to vote.
During the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections, which was held on May 13, several shops in Madhya Pradesh's Indore were distributing free breakfast and ice creams to early voters.
Moreover, Makarand Narwekar, a former corporator from Colaba, has called upon housing society federations, ALMs, and residents’ associations in South Mumbai to discourage residents from going on vacation and encourage them to stay present on May 20, polling day in Mumbai. Additionally, Narwekar has urged travel agents and companies to waive cancellation fees for rescheduling travel plans and to provide discounts for post-poll vacations.
In Karnataka's Bengaluru, during the second phase of voting, various restaurants, businesses, and transport services were offering free coffee and dosa and discounts on airfare.
