EC may reach out to Rajini for poll mascot
CHENNAI: The Election Commission in Chennai, charged with holding assembly elections before mid-may, has sounded out people close actor Rajinikanth for an appearance in a short film on electoral awareness.
Chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu, Rajesh Lakhoni, did not reveal the names of other superstars approached by the commission. “We are working with the Nadigar Sangham (a union for actors) and it has promised to rope in superstars and celebrities to spread electoral awareness campaign,” he said.
Shruti Hasan, daughter of actor Kamal Hasan and an actor herself, has agreed to participate in the campaign. Other actors such as Surya and Karthik, who are popular action heroes in Tamil movies, have already given their shots for the campaign.
Cricketer Ashwin, Dinesh Kartik and his wife Deepika, who is also a squash player, are all preparing for the shoot.
Worried over the ‘indifference’ of the young voters towards electoral democratic process, the EC has stepped up its efforts to reach out to the youth through their icons and hired a team of advertising professionals to enthuse first time voters to register and exercise their right.
OPN Advertising, a five year old advertising firm comprising local Tamilian youth with exposure to the advertising majors, is the creative driver of the campaign.
Bala Manian, director of the firm, said: “A year ago if you had asked me if I would work with government, I would have flatly said no. But now, it is such a roller coaster ride that we are enjoying it.”
“Lakhoni seems more like a CEO of a firm that we are used to dealing with. He does not stand on procedures and wastes time. We get approvals on Whatsapp and his entire team is social media savvy, even though they themselves may not be using social media”, Bala added.