[Watch] From Fish To Rickshaw, Candidates Carry Their Symbols For Door-To-Door Campaign In Odisha Panchayat Polls

Bhubaneswar: With the State election Commission clamping a ban on public meetings during panchayat elections due to COVID pandemic, the candidates have come up with a new idea to campaign. The contestants carrying their symbols like pen, kettle, fish and even a rickshaw during door-to-door campaign has become a trend this time.

Sanatan Das, a rickshaw puller, is contesting for sarpanch post of Mandarpur panchayat under Remuna block in Balasore district and his symbol is rickshaw. Every morning, as he brings out his rickshaw and pedals his way to the voters to appeal for casting their votes in his favour.

Since pulling the rickshaw is his daily activity to earn livelihood, he does not find anything strenuous about it. Rather, he considers it an easy way to approach the people. Besides, it is a novel way to draw the attention of the voters and put an impression of his honesty and sincerity on them, he said.

Sanatan is not new to panchayat politics. Earlier, he had contested for the posts of samiti member and sarpanch but lost. But he has not lost heart and is trying his luck in polls again.

Another sarpanch candidate, Bhagavati Bhotra in Nabarangpur district has been allocated fish symbol. She has filed nomination for the post for Patri panchayat  under Papadahandi block.

Accompanied by a few followers, Bhagavati makes it a point to carry a fresh fish when she sets out to campaign everyday. Though it looks odd, she points out that the fish truly symbolises her humble background and sincerity towards the job she is assigned.

Bhagavati, who is the outgoing zilla parishad president, has already earned appreciation and support of the people as a social worker. She feels winning the sarpanch post will help her serve public more efficiently. She is confident of her victory for the popularity she has gained due to development works taken up by her as ZP president.

From Fish To Rickshaw, Candidates Carry Their Symbols For Door-To-Door Campaign In Panchayat Polls – YouTube

Sarpanch candidate in Arjyapali panchayat under Chattrapur block of Ganjam district Jitendra Nayak, who has been allocated fish symbol, also carries his symbol for door-to-door campaign. Far from facing any inconvenience in carrying the fish, he finds it easy to make the voters identify him with his symbol.

Kalpana Mahana, who is in the fray as a sarpanch candidate in Kusuda panchayat under Bhogarai block in Balasore district, also takes her fish symbol with her for campaigning.

Similarly, Durgamani Jena, a candidate for samiti member from Kusuda panchayat in the same district, carries her symbol kettle as part of canvassing tools while moving from village to village to win over the voters.

Nrusingha Patra, who is contesting as a ward member from Lochapada panchayat under Kukudakhandi block in Ganjam district, has been allocated pen as his symbol.

During his campaign, he carries a bagful of pens and distributes those among voters so that they will remember him while casting their votes. Since pen is an essential part of the people in daily activities, he hopes they will think of him in polling booths, Patra said.