Just a few days for December 7 election, the contesting candidates and major parties have made their own preparations to turn the festivals of votes into a festival of cash and liquor. Hundreds of crores of rupees and high volumes of liquor are hidden in villages and towns and remote, unnamed locations for last-minute distribution. All this will be distributed through the respective candidate’s trusted followers, relatives, their party sarpanches and local people’s representatives.
The next few days play a crucial role for the parties to make sure their inducements of cash and liquor certainly reach the intended sections of voters. They will also have to ensure that these illegal activities will not attract the attention of election authorities. All this activity of hiding and distributing cash and liquor is done as per the plans made in the past few months. The ground work is prepared and final distribution is the key element for a better result.
Cash is being distributed to mainly neutral voters and those belonging to rival parties. In some places, two to three candidates are giving cash to the same voter making an appeal for casting his or her vote as their liking. In each assembly segment, Rs. 10 crore to Rs. 15 crore may be distributed. In some high profile constituencies, there would be no limit to this spending. Depending upon the situation, the value of vote may go up from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000.
There are also bargains for wholesale offers for families and combined families having four votes or more. Interestingly, parties have set up local level committees at village and booth level. They are collecting voters’ phone numbers and keeping in contact with them at personal level.