Amid the election fervour in Uttar Pradesh, Bulandshahr is making news for rather unusual reasons. The city has entered record books for laying the world’s largest Rangloi pattern and for making the largest map outline with lit candles — all to promote awareness among voters.

The district magistrate, Kamini Chauhan Ratan, is being lauded for the innovative idea to catch voters’ attention and urge them to come forward and vote in the ongoing assembly elections in the state. The district election office, under Ratan’s guidance, had organised the Rangoli-laying exercise involving 500 students from 33 colleges aided by their art teachers and local government engineers. It took two days and 50,000 kg of colour-powder to lay the pattern spread over an area 1,90,045 square feet in the campus of the DAV college in the city. The map, at Police Line, is made of 2,40,000 candles. Special efforts were made to fix the candles and keep them lit.

Both the initiatives had started as election awareness campaigns but ended up as records in the Guinness and the Limca books of world records. The claim for the distinction will be filed by February 13, says the local administration. The impact of the initiatives, however, can be gauged from the fact that most of the intended beneficiaries of the awareness campaigns also turned out in hordes to participate in the unique activities. Ratan said that the initiatives were a success. Asked about the funds, she said that local entrepreneurs had volunteered to contribute for the exercise.