Patna: A candidate in fray for the ongoing village council elections in Indian state of Bihar has turned to a fascinating idea to woo the voters.
With the state election commission allotting her “Chimney” as the poll symbol, the candidate fighting elections for the post of Mukhiya or village council chief has installed the original chimney on an electric rickshaw to catch the attention of the voters. What is interesting, the chimney also emits smoke wherever it goes.
Reports said the candidate Swati Singh was finding it difficult to convince the rustic villagers to vote for ‘Chimney’. While many villagers were not aware about the chimney in rural areas, others were not showing interest in her candidature.
Eventually, her husband Binod Singh came up with an interesting idea of putting an original chimney on display and thus, keep the villagers spellbound! He got a chimney made of iron plate, fitted it over an electric rickshaw and then burnt cow dung cakes inside to emit smoke. The idea has now become a big hit.
“The rickshaw puller keeps burning cow dung cakes inside the chimney at regular intervals to let smoke come out of it and give it a real look. The idea has now drawn the attention of the voters. Impressive crowds of villagers gather to have a look at our poll symbol wherever it reaches,” Singh told the media on Tuesday.
The candidate too is very happy to see the voters showing interest in her poll symbol and is very hopeful about her victory. “My chimney carries a special meaning. Right now smokes emit from my chimney but after the elections, the people will really find real chimneys emitting smokes,” she claimed, referring to her plan to launch development works in her constituency. She is contesting elections from Rahmatpur village council in Munger district.
Equally interesting is the campaign launched by other candidates who have been making frequent visits to the deities and meeting villagers at regular intervals, reminding them about their childhood friendships humming a popular Hindi number “Bachpan ka pyar mera bhooll nahi jana re (O my friend! Please don’t forget our childhood relations while pressing the EVM buttons)…”
The 11-phased village council polls are currently underway in Bihar to elect 255,000 council representatives for various posts. They include 8,072 village council chiefs, 113,307 council members, 11,104 village council committee members, 1,160 district council members, 8,072 Sarpanch or village court judges which have limited judicial powers and 113,307 gram kutchery panchs (officials to assist Sarpanch).
