Bengaluru: In an attempt to increase voters’ turnout for the Karnataka Assembly elections, the Election Commission (EC) has decided to distribute voters’ guide with a pictorial instruction list. Besides this, it has also decided to provide better amenities at the polling booths.

Speaking after releasing a research work titled “The research report on the attitude of the voters, awareness” carried out under the leadership of Prof. Mahadeshwaran of Social and Financial Development Institute, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar said that attempts were being made to create awareness about voting from the booth-level.

Before voting, handouts with instructions to the voters will be distributed to every family. The pamphlet contains the voting date, booth number, contact details of booth-level officers, main websites, helplines, documents needed in a polling booth, other important information and “do’s” and “don’ts” in a polling booth. Booth-level officers will distribute these pamphlets with voters’ chit and photograph, he said.

Drinking water, toilets, sheds, ramps for physically handicapped and other facilities will be provided in the polling booths, CEO added.

To increase awareness, the EC has been holding street plays and opening election schools at high-schools and PU Colleges. The importance of voting is being explained to the children during summer camps “Prathibha Karanji.”

In the Assembly elections of 2013, the voting percentage increased increased to 72 percent, a jump of 9 percent. This time, the EC has an aim of increasing the voting percentage to 82 percent.