GADAG: On election day, thousands of villagers from Gadag district will get to take a luxury bus ride back to their village, albeit only for a day, courtesy, politicians in their district.
Ignored by the government for the longest time and left with no choice but to migrate to larger cities to find work, these villagers now find themselves back in demand because of their votes.
On offer are free premium bus rides, food, alcohol and cash. Local leaders, entrusted with the job of bringing back the voters, have been given a car, cash and high-end cell phones to co-ordinate, sources told TNIE.
These leaders are now spreading their wings and heading out towards cities like Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Karwar and Latur in Maharashtra, to convince villagers to return. When they meet migrant communities, they waste no time bargaining and offer whatever the community wants.
For women voters, this means gifts like mixers and even refrigerators. However, they come with the condition that the voters have to visit the polling booth as soon as they reach their hometowns, even before they go to their homes. This might not be an arduous task however, as locally, there are trucks and other vehicles at hand to transport them.
The offer of an all expenses paid return trip to their hometown has the migrants happy and the additional promise of gifts is the icing on the cake for many who will return after months and even years.
“They will leave from their current residences the night before polling day and reach their hometowns to vote,” said Lalappa Lamani, a resident of Dambal village in the district.
Samudranath Chakkrannavar, a resident of Adavi Somapur, said, “A local leader is deputed to take care of migramts and arrange for lodging as well as good food,” he said.
The administration estimates the number of migrant voters in Gadag at 20,000. “We have created awareness where migrants are settled. But parties will have their own strategies,” an official said.
Going home to vote not an option
Mangaluru: To help celebrate the festival of democracy, government transport agencies are arranging for special buses and trains for migrants to return home. However, for many workers from North India, settled in the state, the loss that they would face if they went home to vote, weighs heavily on their hearts. Poornachandra Sahu from Kolkata runs a small pan shop at Urwa. When asked about voting, he smiles. “I voted once or twice when I was in my hometown.
It is not easy to get back to Kolkata even if I want to vote”, he says. There are hundreds of North Indians working in the city. Most of them will not be going home to vote. ZP CEO and SVEEP Committee Chairman Selvamani R said anyone staying here for more than six months can apply for an EPIC card by deleting their old entry.