Mickey Mouse, Bengali cartoon characters create voter awareness

Injecting a dose of humour into the serious business of elections, mascots based on iconic comic and cartoon characters are doing their bit to generate awareness among voters for the upcoming West Bengal assembly polls.

Under the directive of the Election Commission to make the polls "free, fair and participatory", various districts have opted for locally and globally popular comic characters as mascots to drive home the message.

The popular Mickey Mouse can be seen holding a voter identification card on posters and balloons in North 24 Parganas, while merchandise displaying legendary cartoonist Narayan Debnath's 'Bantul the Great', a must-read for Bengali comic aficionados, is spreading awareness in Howrah.

The portly Gopal Bhar, a court jester in medieval Bengal, has found his way as 'Votegopal' in Nadia where the mascot, attired in an orange kurta and dhoti and holding aloft a poster, is urging voters to cast their own ballots.