Can Rajamouli draw Karnataka voters to the booth, like he does with audiences at the talkies

The Karnataka Assembly elections are due in April-May. The state is witnessing a three-corner fight between the ruling BJP, Congress and Janata Dal (S)

India's best director, S S Rajamouli will be in Karnataka to take part in a campaign ahead of the assembly elections.

His role however is not political in nature. Instead he would be taking part in an awareness campaign.

The RRR director, is vying for honours in the best original song category in the Oscars Mart 12. Just before that event, Rajamouli has been nominated for a major responsibility in Karnataka, the state in which he was born.

The ace director has been appointed by the election authorities as the district icon for Raichur in Karnataka. The election authorities are hoping that Rajamouli will be able to pull the voters to the booth, just as he pulls audiences to theatres.

Elections in Karnataka are due in April-May.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka chose Rajamouli for this responsibility.

Rajamouli (49) was born in Amreshwara camp in Manvi taluka of Raichur. It is thanks to this connection that that the election authorities decided to make him the district icon.

Times of India while citing a senior officer in the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer's office in Bengaluru said that they would like to increase the polling percentage and encourage people to exercise their franchise in the election. "We have roped in Rajamouli to educate people about the need to vote and make them feel it is their responsibility," the official also said.

About Raichur assembly:

The Raichur Assembly constituency is one of the 224 constituencies in Karnataka. It is a general category seat and is situated in Raichur. It is also one of the 8 assembly segments of the Raichur (ST) Parliament seat.

The voter turnout has not been anything to tom-tom about in Raichur. The 2019 Parliament election witnessed a voter turnout of just 55.17 per cent. In the 2018 assembly elections, the voter turnout was just 54.42 per cent. This is where the election office is expecting the star director to play a role. It is hoped that he would be instrumental in getting more voters to the polling booths.

In the 2018 elections, Dr. Shivaraj Patil of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the elections with 56,511 votes. Syed Yaseen of the Congress came second, while Mahantesh Patil of the JD(S) ended up in the third position.

In the 2019 Parliament elections, the BJP's Raja Amareshwara Naik won with 66,104 votes, while the Congress candidate B V Naik was the runner-up with 56,666 seats.