Posters, banners, loudspeakers –Ranchiites have seen them all during election campaigns. This time brand new mediums have entered the arena. The SMS (short messaging service) bug has bitten campaigners with personalised T-shirts and making parodies and posting them on social networking sites, as well as conventional methods to woo voters in the Ranchi civic election.
This year altogether 16 candidates are contesting for the Mayor’s post while 527 candidates are competing to be councillors. The final combat will take place on April 7 before that the candidates are trying every kind of technique to win the polls.
“Candidates are resorting to innovative ways and tactics to make an impression on people as they will face tough competition from other candidates in the civic polls,” said Kunal, a political observer from ward number 46.
Among the trend-setters is Sunita Tirkey, contesting from Jawahar Nagar (ward no. 1) who found the service immensely useful. She said, “You cannot meet everyone in a family during door-to-door campaigns. Many of them are at work. We note down the numbers of those who carry mobiles and send them SMS, seeking their votes.”
To be visible before other election every contestant in the city is trying to kick off the campaign as early as possible. Owner of Star Ad, Event Management agency, Shashikant said, “Candidates are approaching us to make parodies of popular tracks such as Fevicol Se, Tin ta-ta chita-chita and other chartbusters with Nagpuri songs. This election everybody wants a personalized music CD in a distinguished manner.”
It is impossible to reach out to each person in the city during campaigning. Hence, candidates are trying to convey messages through these means. Jyoti Gupta from Hindpidi (ward number 26) is another candidate who has started interacting with her electorates said, “I make it a point to interact with the locals in the evenings. I also plan to stay in touch with voters through SMSes.”
But some candidates plan to stick to conventional ways of campaigning. They are going door to door for seeking support. In most cases, it’s the techno-savvy young supporters of the candidates who are exploring the contemporary facility. The older generation seems to be shy away from them.
“I believe in door-to-door canvassing to convince the voters,” said Alok Kerketta, a candidate from lalpur (ward number 10). But he agrees that times are changing and new methods are emerging as a trendy way of campaigning.
Raj Kumar Sinthu, a contender from Doranda( ward number 46 )apart from other conventional methods is planning to order personalized T-shirts and pens for campaigning. He is also planning to conduct nukkad natak and kavi samelan after Holi. “Many candidates have started pages on Facebook for promotional activities,” said Sahrukh, Marketing Manager of Subh Shiv Event Management Company.