Wedding season is upon us yet again. Most of us will be a part of at least one wedding this season, as a friend, family, acquaintance or the ones getting hitched. The wedding invitation cards are a very important part of this rite of passage. Announcements in newspapers succeeded the word of mouth invitation and were in turn succeeded by invitation cards over the years. The invitation cards have taken on a new avatar altogether now.
Kannada activist from Haveri, has designed his wedding card like a voter ID in an attempt to inspire people to turn up and vote on May 12.

Siddappa Doddachikkannanavar, an activist and an Indian Railways employee , and Jyothi, a BCom graduate, are set to tie the knot on April 27. The bridegroom Siddappa, a resident of Hangal town is currently working with the Railways in Goa.
The wedding invite has the national emblem, instead of the title Election Commission of India logo. The card also has a unique number ‘SJMRG27042018’, which is a combination of the initials of the bride-groom as well as the wedding date. The couple printed around 1,200 cards with messages highlighting the importance of voting and blood donation.

The second page of the card has details of the wedding venue, a signature and names of family members with telephone numbers. Asking guests to come for the wedding without fail, he also requests them to compulsorily vote on May 12th.
He has also handed over a copy of his wedding invite to Haveri Deputy Commissioner Dr Venkatesh and Superintendent of Police Dr K Parashurama.
“We have been working towards promoting Kannada language in Goa. Being the state president of Kannada Srujanasheela Balaga, we do visit Kannada schools and distribute Kannada books. I also enjoy writing limericks. I wanted to do something unique for my wedding to promote Kannada. When I discussed the same with my friend Karibasappa Gondi, a constable, he suggested that we should do something to encourage voting keeping in mind the Assembly elections. With the support of my friend Channabasappa, we designed a wedding card which resembles the voting ID card. Even the fonts and style are the same,” he said in a recent interview.