The Hindu : Money, muscle, mobiles for `better booth management'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 01, 2003

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Other States - New Delhi

Money, muscle, mobiles for `better booth management'

By Lalit K. Jha

NEW DELHI NOV. 30. Elaborate arrangements have been made by political parties and candidates for better booth management as polling gets underway in all the 70 Assembly constituencies here on Monday morning. Besides hiring pehalwans and musclemen from Delhi and neighbouring States, the candidates have purchased hundreds of mobile phones and WLL (wireless in local loop) sets for what they claim to be "better booth management".

Though officially, majority of the important candidates have kept aside Rs. 1.5 to Rs. 2 lakhs which they would declare in election expenditure register, unofficially they have kept aside Rs. 10 to 20 lakhs for the polling day. Contestants have evolved a strategy for each of the booths in their area. At each polling booth, majority of the serious candidates have deputed four to five polling agents headed by a pehalwan or a muscleman or a local dada. The team leader, in almost all the cases, has been provided pre-paid mobile phone.

"We have to take care of these things on polling day if one has to be in the race. After all, elections are won or lost on booth management," said a candidate from an Assembly seat in South Delhi. The candidate confessed to have hired 100 pehalwans and distributed 200 WLL sets.

"Presence of pehalwans, would prevent the polling agents of rival parties would think twice before doing any mischief. And mobile phones have been distributed so that we can remain in touch with our men," said another candidate from Outer Delhi, who has hired as many as 300 pehalwans from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. "For the polling day each one of them are being given Rs. 1,000, besides lunch, dinner and pocket expenses," he said.

Campaign managers, who on Monday would don the mantle of booth managers, claimed that for emergencies, they have kept some reserve personnel at strategic locations in their constituency so that they would be rushed to places as and when required. Besides, for every ten booths, a large number of serious candidates have made one senior person in charge, who has been provided with a well-equipped vehicle. In some cases, such persons are said to be from the underworld.

From an administrative point of view, majority of the candidates have divided their seat into three-four segments each headed by a senior and experienced leader. Individual control rooms have also been set up by a number of them. Besides the polling agents, quite a number of candidates in particular those of major political parties have recruited a team of youngsters who would bring voters out from their homes. Though they have not been provided with mobile phones, but Rs. 200-500 is being given to them for the task, besides lunch and dinner expenses.

Anticipating that borders would be sealed today and thus difficult for the people to come to the Capital, majority of the pehalwans, musclemen and workers arrived in the city today itself. "Fighting election is not that simple. A strategy has to be drawn up for winning and contesting elections," observed a candidate from North Delhi. Finally, a battery of lawyers have been kept ready by a number candidates who would fight it out with the Presiding Officer in case of dispute. "We are giving them retention allowance, which depends on the status of the lawyer," said a candidate from South Delhi.

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