Ahead of Punjab elections, hoarding war erupts in Mohali town
With just two weeks left for the Punjab assembly elections, Airport Road and some high-rise buildings in Mohali have become the turf for a “hoarding war” between candidates of political parties
With just two weeks left for the Punjab assembly elections, Airport Road and some high-rise buildings in Mohali have become the turf for a “hoarding war” between candidates of political parties.
Posters and hoardings of three-time Congress MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu have been installed on unipoles, buildings, and bus queue shelters, highlighting development works carried out in the past five years.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate Sanjeev Vashisht’s hoardings claim, “Nawa Punjab BJP de Naal (A new Punjab with BJP)” and those of AAP’s Kulwant Singh state “Ek Mauka Kejriwal nu (give a chance to Kejriwal)”.
Though there are around 150 unipoles in the city and hoardings by candidates have been put on around 105 of them. Congress has installed hoardings on around 50 unipoles, BJP on 35, AAP on 20 and around 10 have been put up by SAD’s Parvinder Singh Sohana.
The advertisers charge between ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh per hoarding, depending on the location. There are also 22 bus queue shelters on which political hoardings have been displayed- of which 10 are by Congress. These cost around ₹65,000.
Both Congress and BJP have installed hoardings on Airport road, which is considered the lifeline of Mohali city. Sanjeev Kumar Garg, who is looking after the digital media efforts of Congress, says, “We are highlighting the development works carried out by incumbent MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu in the past five years. Other parties do not have anything to show, but have come up with slogans, which people will not believe.”
BJP candidate Sanjeev Vashisht says, “The hoarding we have come up with show that if we are voted to power, there will be complete transformation in the state.”
“ Our pan Punjab slogan “Ek Mauka Kejriwal nu” has become a household slogan and people are seriously considering it now,” said Kulwant.
Some supporters of different parties have also put up hoardings outside their houses.
