Karimnagar: Telangana has officially been split from Andhra Pradesh. But, its voters are receiving voice messages sent by contestants from Seemandhra, thanks to apolitical telecom networks.
B. Rakesh Reddy, a resident of the city was startled to receive a message on behalf of TDP nominee Kesineni Nani, appealing to cast his vote for him. Similarly, K. Vishwaprakash of Bhagathnagar was unable to make out the audio message being played after he had answered his mobile phone.
Not only residents of the city, but also many people across the district and elsewhere in Telangana are receiving the calls that carry messages for voters. As part of innovative publicity methods, the contestants of the district used telephonic messages to reach voters.
Considering the effectiveness and reach of the method, the candidates of residuary AP started relying on the method to woo voters. They are approaching some agencies to spread the audio message through telecom networks. As par of the second phase, the region will see polls on May 7. Unmindful of the receivers’ location, the agencies are randomly choosing phone numbers for sending the messages. But, some of the numbers belong to Telangana Thus, many electors are getting the calls from some landline phones which play the messages as soon as a call is answered.
The telephone-based persuasion was extensively applied by the contestants belonging to various parties during first phase of the General Polls in Telangana held on April 30.
It is the most simple and useful mode of publicity. Generally, time constrain is a major challenge for contestants. Considering vast reach, the telephonic messages are advantageous,? said Chalmeda Laxminarasimha Rao, a nominee of the Congress from Karimnagar Assembly constituency.
