Hugs, selfies… anything to oblige crowds

Bathinda

With less than 20 days to go for the polling at the high-stakes Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency, the candidates are pulling out all the stops to woo the electorate, be it clicking selfies with the voters, having dinner or staying overnight at the houses of downtrodden or anything else that they think could fetch votes.

Leading the pack, Union minister and two-time sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur seems to be taking her campaign to the next level in these elections, as she is now often spotted mingling with women who constitute 47 per cent of the electorate. Once she finishes with her public meeting, she lends a patient hearing to the women approaching her with their problems, whether it is the case of old age pension or inflated electricity bills. She is quick to respond to their woes as she rang up a PSPCL official after a woman approached her with a bill of over Rs 97,000 here on Tuesday.

She also obliges women who want to get a selfie clicked with her. It is being seen by many as an attempt not only to reach out to the women voters, but also to cash in on the anti-incumbency sentiment against the state government. Interestingly, this is the first time she is contesting Lok Sabha elections with the SAD out of power in the state. She bore the brunt of the anti-incumbency against the previous SAD-BJP regime in 2009 and 2014 General Election.

Congress’ Amrinder Singh Raja Warring continues building his narrative of “commoner versus mighty”, as he stays overnight at the houses of poor. He also shares meal with them, though his political rivals accuse him of resorting to theatrics. He visits public places to connect with the voters. For instance, he had dinner at a dhaba close to the railway station here last night. He was all smiles when some people came up to him with a request for a selfie. He has been frequenting places like public parks, playgrounds and ice cream parlours to strike connect with the electorate. He takes out roadshows, at times on bikes, which attracts youth. His wife Amrita utilises her public meetings to establish a dialogue with women voters. She interacts with them while delivering her address as she asks them to answer her queries about sitting MP and a host of other issues.

Punjab Ekta Party chief Sukhpal Khaira also makes it a point to involve people with him during his public meetings. He is often seen handing over the mic to a farmer or a youth who wishes to air his views and lends them an ear before taking forward his address. He has also been highlighting problems like lack of clean drinking water in a particular village by going live on Facebook while touring the constituency.

Meanwhile, candidates are also making most of the social media to reach out to voters, going live on Facebook with various activities during the campaign. They also utilise it for keeping their supporters updated about their schedule for the next day.