Jaglal Patel (56), a resident of Gujarati tola in Immlichatti area of the Town Assembly segment, was thrilled to receive an invitation card from the district administration on Wednesday.

Jaglal, a rickshaw-puller in Muzaffarpur town, who received the card from Sunil Kumar, the sub-divisional officer (East)-cum-returning officer of the Town Assembly seat, was however not the only one. Invitation cards and voter-identity slips were provided to more than 50 aged voters, including women residing in Gujrati tola, on day one of the distribution drive led by district magistrate Dharmendra Kumar. The move is aimed at increasing voter turnout in the district that will vote on November 1 in the fourth phase of the election.

The Election Commission of India had asked the DM to explore possibilities under the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) to encourage voters to exercise their franchise. The DM said he came up with the idea to give away invitation cards and voter identity slips and a leaflet to appeal to the electorates.

District authorities have initiated the process of distributing invitation cards to voters in the 11 Assembly constituencies of the district. Efforts are on to provide invitation cards to at least five senior voters in each polling booth. There are 2,667 polling booths spread over the 11 Assembly constituencies. The DM said: "Returning officers, block development officers, circle officers and booth level officers are involved in issuing to distribute invitation cards to the targeted voters."

Four model polling booths have been set up in the constituencies. Besides facilities such as availability of drinking water toilets, special gates would be erected at such polling booths to welcome the voters."