Go vote! singing Dance Mein Vote Mar Le

The Election Commission is very serious about incorporating pop culture to encourage more people to vote, with their theme song Dance Mein Vote...

With Election's just around the corner, the Election Commission is eager to do anything to incorporate pop culture to encourage the youth to vote. But their initial choice of Rock On!, turned out to be too expensive, instead they're opting for "Dance Pe Chance Mar Le" from the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

A follow up to the Pappu Can't Vote campaign from the Delhi assembly elections, the theme song joins a slew of "cool" advertisments aimed at an apethetic youth, just ahead of the 2009 elections. Since the tune from the Rock On! cost almost Rs 25 lakh, the Delhi Chief electoral officer Satbir Silas Bedi decided to go with the tune from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

Durign the Delhi assembly elections, after noticing a quantum jump in the poll percentage, says the EC officer, "The song Pappu can't vote touched a chord amongst the masses and as compared to the dismal 43 percent voting percentage in the last MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) elections, the turn out jumped to 60 percent."

The new song is a modified version of the successful tune. Instead of the original lyrics, the song went as Pappu vote dal le. This time the lyrics have been changed to urge people to realise their responsibility and get up early, as if they were off for a morning jog, and go cast their vote.

Choosing to go with a familiar, and well identifiable option, Bedi says they decided to stick to the Pappu campaign since people are already familiar with it. "We will try and reach as many people as possible through radio FM stations, TV, cinema halls and newspapers until May 7, when Delhi goes to poll," she added. The whole idea is to steer clear from adopting a preachy tone.