Voters greeted with welcome drink, assistance by students & Sohrai songs

LOHARDAGA: With an eye on improving the overall turnout of voters, the poll panel pulled out unique initiatives across the Lohardaga seat to draw voters to polling stations on Monday. Lohardaga recorded 62.60%, lesser than 66% turnout in 2019.
The EC roped in govt school students across several polling booths as volunteers to help the elderly and the disabled."Since 7 am, we have been keeping an eye on elderly voters.
Once they are on the polling station premises, we are bringing out the wheelchair and moving them up the ramp and ahead of the queue so that they do not have to wait longer," Nitu Kumari, a Class X student at SS Janta +2 High School in Murma, told TOI. Polling booths across Mandar, Lohardaga and Gumla assembly segments also welcomed its voters with aam jhor (a drink made of raw mangoes).
The Jharkhand govt-run JSLPS (Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society) organised traditional tribal music and dance in booth clusters. Dressed in white sarees with red borders, which represent the tribal tradition of Sarna, women SHG members danced to beats of mandar (drums) and sang songs from their annual Sohrai festival.