For Rajinder, the wait for sunset is getting longer. As darkness falls, he gets a call on his mobile to collect his quota of McDowell No. 1. He goes to a dark lane where the quarter of the booze is slipped into his pocket. And well, his evening becomes colourful.
Welcome the election to urban local bodies. Quarters of McDowell No. 1, Royal Stag and Imperial Blue, cheapest whiskeys in the market, ‘flow’ in the lanes of small (and may be large) towns of Uttar Pradesh. Casteism prevails here too as in Dalit localities, Angoori, Mehbooba and Jai Veeru are served to the voters.
When the women complained that men are getting their drink and they did not get anything, the candidates in fray obliged them with gulab jamun and soft drink. The rival candidate tried to outsmart – he arranged gulab jamuns from a better shop located in the district headquarters. Another candidate arranged pakoras and even jalebis.
The candidates are taking care of even those who are on drugs. The smack lovers are being obliged with currency notes, so they purchase their dose of enjoyment.
Voters are bargaining the candidates hard. If someone’s family member(s) are away on their job, they openly ask the candidates to bear the fare to enable them to come to the town to cast their vote. There are instances where candidates are spending as much as 8-10 thousand rupees on this count.
These days, I am in a nagar panchayat with a chairman and 13 ward members. Chat with a few voters revealed that barring a few wealthy candidates who bear their own expenses, all the expenses of ward members are borne by the chairman candidates. Incidentally, both the main candidates are Muslim women – one contesting on symbol ‘phool’ and another on symbol ‘haathi’.
Voters claim that each chairman candidate is spending an amount in the range of 25-30 lakh for being elected to the nagar panchayat with a budget of about 1 crore rupees a year. They openly say that the chairman pockets 8-10 per cent of the works and another 30 per cent goes to the officials in the ‘system’.
So, my dear friends, don’t expect honesty from the people whom you elect by taking bribes from them.
