The delay by the political parties in declaring their candidates in different constituencies has marred the business of those shopkeepers dealing in publicity materials of different parties.
The business of these shopkeepers, who are around half a dozen in the State capital, is passing through a lull phase.“We feel the slow response in the sales is delay in the declaration of candidates by major political parties - Congress and the BJP, said Anil Agrawal, manufacture of publicity material.
Anil further said that around two to three Congress and the same number of BJP leaders have finalised their designed but fearing the uncertainty over their contesting the election none of them are ready to place their orders. Hopefully the sales would gain momentum after the list of BJP and Congress party is out.
At the moment, the situation is not favourable but with the declaration of candidates of BJP and Congress the pressure will ease out and a rise in the sales would be witnessed. Anil is optimist that he would receive work orders from 50 candidates but it is possible to complete work for a maximum of 20-30 candidates which is a good enough figure to attain. Preparing flags and other printings on plastic has been stopped which used to be prepared earlier and cloth and paper are used on which printing is done.
Another shopkeeper and manufacturer of election publicity material, Ajay Agrawal seemed little satisfied after receiving and supplying orders for 4-5 BSP candidates but the candidates of BJP and Congress are still in the phase of wait and watch. Although the orders from the BSP candidates were small in quantity but it initiated the process.
Comparing the present election with the previous one, Ajay said that small and useable publicity materials like pen, pocket calendar, tags and stickers would be more in demand. Ajay who is being in the business for the last 15 years has never seen such a slow sale.
After Narendra Modi emerged as Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP, he is being used in virtually every publicity material ordered by the BJP but his clout in the state has not overshadowed Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s image, as still Shivraj Singh was more prominent in the publicity material supplied in the past election rallies and gatherings.
Regarding publicity of the BJP, Ajay said that the saffron party has been engaged in the publicity for past several months through Jan Ashirvad yatra and other programmes, that he got good orders in the past. He stated that an upsurge in the promotional activities among the party candidates and workers would be witnessed in the last leg of election after the last date of withdrawing the nomination from contesting elections.
Several hopeful and ‘would be’ candidates have visited and taken the price list along with the sample kit which includes flag, cap, batch, masks, T-Shirts, posters, stickers, muffler and calendar. As the sales are slow the ‘sample kit’ is given free which cost around Rs 450-Rs 500, he informed.