There are many ways to promote voting campaigns and the Election Commission must be definitely delighted with the latest method adopted by a family in Udupi. They did it in a wedding invitation printed recently to announce the wedding of Ganesh Kumar Padukone and Poornima, scheduled on May 1 at Sri Sheshakrishna Conven tion Hall, Tallur Parthikatte in Udupi.
The first page of the invite is devoted to the wedding and the second page to the special programmes planned and the gifts for those who attend. However the gifts will be given only to those who cast their votes! A book exhibition will be held on the occasion and those who have cast their votes would be given books worth Rs 250 free on showing the ink mark on their finger! The invitation also has slogans like 'Matadaana Maadi Praja Prabhutva Gellisi,' (Vote and ensure victory of democracy) and 'Naavu maaratakkilla, namma matha maaratakkilla,' (We are not for sale. Our vote is not for sale.)
Heard in BJP office, Mudigere!
Candidates and parties hardly matter when there is an all pervading wave around and who would it benefit more than Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje who faced quite a few obstacles including a ‘Go back Shobha’ campaign before she made it to the candidates list. This time, BJP workers in Udupi and maybe Shobha herself, are looking forward to the Modi wave to see her through with a bigger margin. The extent of disillusionment with the sitting MP can be gauged from a joke which reportedly did the rounds at the Mudigere BJP office, just before Shobha arrived to campaign. Some wondered if it was necessary for her to come at all, another party worker blurted it out candidly saying, ``If she calls me, I will ask her not to come. Without her presence, we can relax and get her at least a 20,000-30,000 lead in our area. If she comes, people will ask uncomfortable questions and we may lose 4,000-5,000 votes. We may have to put in an extra effort to make up for it.''
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