New Delhi: In the run-up to the general elections, poster wars in Delhi have taken an aggressive turn, though the writing on the wall is not clear as to which political party will finally get the mandate.
Hoardings in the city go beyond the usual trumpeting of a party’s achievements and deride opponents, hitting out at them without minced words.
Put up at strategic locations to attract the most amount of people, there’s enough ammunition in banners with every political party proclaiming it is the voters’ best bet.
Amid the cacophony of posters from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is restricted to its inexpensive campaign. Posters on auto rickshaws, a common sight before the Assembly elections in the Capital last year, are back thanks to the party. It plans to soon stick its posters behind 30,000 of the city’s 80,000 auto rickshaws. The party is also focusing on door-to-door campaigning and street plays to draw voters.
On the other hand, the BJP is going all out with a tsunami of large hoardings all over the city. Touching on issues such as corruption and the safety for women, the posters are focused on Narendra Modi as prime ministerial candidate. Pitted against these are the Congress banners with Rahul Gandhi as the face of the party that claims it believes in “working” rather than “talking” and “uniting” not “dividing” the nation.
As one crosses the Delhi border and heads towards Uttar Pradesh via the National Highway 24, road signs are almost completely covered with election banners from the Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party. These banners not only make it difficult for first-time commuters to find their way, but also distract drivers.
Even though it is illegal to put up hoardings or banners on highways and authorities regularly dismantle them, new ones come up in no time. But unlike earlier, walls, trees and poles have not been defaced. Till now.
