STATE TIMES NEWS
KATHUA: A day-long cultural festival ‘Adhikar’ was organised at Sports Stadium Kathua to promote electoral awareness and elicit greater participation in the elections to J and K Legislative Assembly. A colorful cultural programme was organised as part of Matdaan Mahotsav under Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP).
Deputy Commissioner (District Election Officer) Katua Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary was the Chief Guest on the occasion. Addl DC Prasanna Ramaswami, Addl DDC N S Bali, Commandant CRPF Rawat, ARO Anshul Garg, ACD Tilak Raj, CEO Thoru Ram, senior officers of district administration and heads of various educational institutions participated in the festival besides thousands of people and students of various colleges as well as artists.
Artists and poets from Pathankote, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Jammu, Kathua and various other places enthralled the audience with their exceptional performances. Students from schools and colleges and a number of cultural groups of Kathua and Samba, singers from the district and musicians from across the states presented songs, poems, dances, cultural shows, skits, dramas, and a series of other cultural programmes aimed at promoting ethical and informed voting and appealed for greater participation in the forthcoming elections. Dance items were also presented by artists and students from Punjab and Kathua.
A Rangoli Competition on the theme “Vote as Right and Duty” was also organised on the sidelines of cultural show in which more than 20 impressive designs of Rangoli were prepared by groups of young voters and students to reflect their artistic skills for promotion of electoral awareness and participation. Rangoli was later inspected by the Chief Guest, senior officers and judges of the competition.