Manika Batra, Rishabh Pant roped in to encourage Delhi voters

Table Tennis player Manika Batra and cricketer Rishabh Pant have been roped in to encourage voters in the national capital to engage in the parliamentary exercise, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh said on Monday.

The two sportspersons will spread awareness about the upcoming Lok Sabha elections through radio and video messages, he said in a press conference here.

"The sports icons have been roped in to spread awareness among the voters. Our effort will be to increase the total vote percentage this year from last time's 65.02 per cent," Singh said.

This year, there are a total of 1.39 crore voters in the city -- 62,35,814 female, 76,61,68 male, and 647 transgender persons, he said.

Singh told reporters about the mobile applications like the PwD app and the C-vigil app that people can download to apply for PwD (Persons with Disability) voter cards, report violations of the Model Code of Conduct, among other things.

Delhi will go to the polls for its seven seats on May 12. The counting of votes and announcement of the outcome, both, will be done on May 23.

--IANS

sp-vn/mag/bg