‘Vote for those who can develop your constituency’

Voters should vote for candidates who will develop their constituencies, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Telangana, Vikas Raj, said.
He was speaking while inaugurating a photo exhibition on voters’ awareness on Saturday organised by the Central Bureau of Communication.
He urged voters to join the ‘festival’ of democracy and make it a free and fair exercise. “We need to make elections a free and fair exercise. The responsibility for that rests on voters as they have to make elections inducement-free,” he said.
He said that the first thing for voters to do is to find their polling booth. There are many ways like the ECI portal and mobile apps which give info about polling booths.
“Go to your polling booth with your EPIC or any of the 12 identification cards recognised by ECI to exercise your franchise,” he said.  
The CEO urged voters not to make summer heat an excuse to skip voting as the ECI is making arrangements to counter the heat wave in the State. The ECI has been conducting awareness campaigns about elections for seven to eight months, he said.
Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) Vice Chairman and Managing Director, VC Sajjanar, IPS, called upon first-time voters to actively take part in voting as polling day is a holiday. He asked voters not to get influenced by freebies.
Shruti Patil, Additional DG, PIB and the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC), Hyderabad, spoke about the I&B Ministry’s initiatives launched in collaboration with the CEO’s office like street plays which were staged across the state.
She said that the CBC would organise similar exhibitions in all major towns of the state to counter the apathy of urban voters.
Joint CEO Sarfaraz Ahmed, TSRTC Executive Director A. Purushotham Naik, Regional Manager (Ranga Reddy) D. Raju, PIB Director Balakrishna, Deputy Director Kareena B. Thengamam, Deputy Director Manas Krishnakanth, CBC Assistant Director I. Hari Babu and others were also present.
The three-day exhibition on voters’ awareness is being held at the central reservation counter of the MGBS. The exhibition features awareness videos made by CBC and will conclude on April 22.