Umbrellas, saris, TV sets and even sponsored “pindadaan” pujas — it is literally raining goodies for the voters in the on going panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Even though the panchayat polls are not being held on party symbols in the state, candidates are using every trick in the trade to woo voters.
In Arjunpur village in Sultanpur, one candidate has offered to pay the to and fro fare in AC class for his voters who live in other cities like Mumbai, Chandigarh and Delhi. The offer, however, is only for those who are going to cast their vote in his favour.
In another village in Faizabad, a candidate has organised mass “pindadaan” puja in the village and all those who wish to make offerings to their dead ancestors are welcome to join in.
“This is the ‘Pitra Paksh’ period when Hindus pray for the dead. I though of organising a mass puja where even the poorest of the poor can make offerings without having to bother about the expenses.” Needless to add, the clothes, foodgrains, utensils donated in the ‘Pindadaan’ puja and the pandit’s fees is all being borne by the candidate.
In Deoria district, one candidate is distributing saris while another is obliging voters with umbrellas. TV sets are also being distributed in Varanasi district while mobile phones are in demand in Allahabad.
Apart from these, there are promises galore of construction contracts, appointments as Shiksha Mitra and BPL cards that are being made by candidates to the voters.
The polls to elect about 7.61 lakh elected representatives of Gram Panchayats, Kshetra Panchayats and Zila Panchayats, where 11 crore voters will exercise their franchise, are being held in four phases from October 11 to October 25 and the counting of voters will take place on October 30.
The first phase of the polling will be held on October 11,the second on October 15 and the third and final phase are scheduled for October 20 and October 25 respectively. There are 52,010 gram panchayats, 818 kshetra panchayats and 70 zila panchayats in UP.