Snake and ladders game organised in Rajasthan’s Barmer to motivate voters

The district administration in Rajasthan’s Barmer Tuesday organised a ‘Snakes and Ladders’ game on a 1,600 square feet board to create awareness among local voters and ensure their participation in the poll process.

The game, similar to the traditional ‘Snakes and Ladders’, has more or less same rules, though in it, the penalty of being bitten by the snake is due to ignoring voting norms or casting votes under influence of money, caste, liquor or pressure. The snake bites also signify that the voter avoided registration in the voters list, did not cast his vote on the poll day or was involved in spreading rumours or misleading information.

On the other hand, climbing the ladder means the voter ensured their registration in the electoral rolls, participated in the democratic system by casting their vote, generated awareness among other people, motivated them about the electoral process and helped the aged or specially-abled people in the voting process.

Barmer district collector Shivprasad Madan Nakate said that earlier the district had experimented with the event for ‘Save the water’ campaign.

That time, it was listed in the ‘Limca Book of Records’, he said, adding that when he came to know this, he planned to utilise the idea also for generating awareness about the electoral process. He said that the administration is also planning to submit its claim for this event to for entry into the record book.

Nakate said that the move has drawn “good response in Barmer city”, after which the administration is planning to organise it in all assembly constituencies of the district.