Robot greets voters at model polling booth in Pondy
Puducherry (PTI): A robot carrying a plate of flower petals welcomed voters at a model polling booth set up at VOC government higher secondary school in the Raj Bhavan constituency during the Assembly polls on Thursday.
Moving along the corridor, the robot greeted visitors and encouraged them to exercise their franchise
District Election Officer of Puducherry A Kulothungan told PTI that the booth was among the model polling stations opened in Puducherry, and the initiative has drawn positive responses from the voters.
"This innovative arrangement delighted visitors, who appreciated the robot's voice messages urging them to vote and help achieve 100 per cent polling," the official said, adding that the robot was brought from Chennai.
The spacious venue has multiple voting compartments, and the Election department has deployed the robot as part of initiatives to enhance voter engagement.
A senior voter said such an innovative measure had not been seen before and would help motivate people to participate in the democratic process.
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Bengal polls: RG Kar victim's mother files nomination as BJP candidate from Panihati
Kolkata (PTI): Ratna Debnath, mother of the raped-murdered RG Kar hospital doctor and the BJP candidate from Panihati, filed her nomination papers on Thursday.
She was accompanied by senior BJP leader and former Union minister Smriti Irani and district party leaders.
Speaking to reporters after filing her nomination, she said her sole aim is to oust the TMC regime in West Bengal, which, she alleged, would ensure women's safety in the state and prevent a recurrence of incidents like the RG Kar case.
Nearly a year and a half after the brutal killing of her 26-year-old daughter inside a locked seminar room of the state-run hospital in August 2024, Debnath agreed to contest the polls on a BJP ticket from her hometown Panihati after being approached by the party "to bring to light the truth behind the crime".
She is pitted against TMC's Tirthankar Ghosh and CPI(M)'s Kalatan Dasgupta.
