Santosh Yadav, the noted mountaineer, has been selected as the brand ambassador by the district administration to motivate voters to cast their votes in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Santosh, who hails from Haryana, has her in-laws' house in Munger, which witnessed a lowly turnout of 52 per cent voters in the 2014 general elections. The district administration has set a target of taking the percentage up to 80 in the Assembly polls to be held later this year.

Voters of three Assembly constituencies in the district - Tarapur, Munger and Jamalpur - would cast their votes on October 12, during the first phase of the Assembly elections.

A total of 836 polling booths have been set up in the district for 8.96 lakh voters. Santosh launched the awareness campaign on Wednesday evening in Munger town by flagging off a candle march which had been taken out to urge voters to cast votes. The campaign would continue for a fortnight, during which Santosh would visit different parts of the district to interact with voters and take part in awareness programmes.

The mountaineer carries the distinction of being the only woman mountaineer in the world to have scaled the Mount Everest twice within the span of a year. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000.

"I am fortunate to have been selected by the local administration as an icon to spread awareness regarding the importance of the right to vote. I hope my efforts would have a positive impact on the voters of the district," she said.

She urged people to come out in large numbers on the voting day and use their franchise.