In an attempt to raise awareness on voting, city-based NGO Youngistaan Foundation organised a stand-up comedy and slam poetry show to encourage the urban youth to go out and vote, especially in a constituency that saw less than 50% voting during the 2014 polls. At an event held at Alt Space in Jubilee Hills on Sunday, the show featured stand-up comedians and slam poets, including Mamidanna, Ishnani Mukherjee, Zaki and Vivek Muralidharan.
While the comedians, through laugh riots, raised awareness on the importance of going out and casting their votes, the slam poets used their words to encourage the youth to step out and make their votes count. The Serilingampally constituency, which is home to the IT hub in the state, has a large youth population and is also one of the richest constituencies in Telangana.
Despite the large numbers of young people living in the area, the 2014 elections saw a dip in the voter turnout compared to other constituencies in the state.
Youngistaan is a Hyderabad-based NGO that is committed to making a difference in the community by helping those in need. Speaking to the media, founder of the NGO, Arun Daniel, says that this campaign will not just end with one show.
“Last time, the voter turnout, specifically in the demographics of urban youngsters, was below 50%. It’s a disheartening number! So this is our small effort to change that. The stand-up comedy night was the first of the series of events we have planned to engage the urban youth demographic. We will be hosting another comedy show and also have a music gig with the same theme lined up,” Daniel said.
Telangana is all set to go to the polls on December 7 and the results would be declared on December 11. According to Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar, the total number of voters in the state is 2,80,64,680, including 7,46,077 new voters.