The sweet, sweet taste of success ? or failure

The tradition of supporters weighing candidates in coins is passe, reports Jatin Gandhi.

The tradition of supporters weighing candidates in coins is passé. Ladoos are in. Not only because these are cheaper but also because the candidate has no choice but to distribute the sweets he gets.

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Satpal Gosain, who is contesting the election from Ludhiana East on the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, has been weighed in ladoos twice in the last two days. “This is a new thing, earlier it was always coins,” says Pran Bhatia, Gosain’s associate.

The economics is simple. For a candidate weighing 80 kg — and there are many in the fray who weigh even more — distributing one rupee coins costs Rs. 8,000. Ladoos, at Rs. 40 a kilo are much cheaper. “Coins are used as campaign funds but the ladoos get distributed there and then. How many ladoos can a candidate take with him?” quips Neelam Kapoor, whose brother Harish Rai Dhanda is the SAD candidate from Ludhiana West. Dhanda, she says, has been weighed in ladoos, sometimes coins and once even in dry-fruit.

Agricultural commission agents in Fazilka constituency of Ferozepur weighed Congress candidate and sitting MLA Mohinder Kumar Rinwa, 43 times over a span of two days, mostly in ladoos. The agents who preferred ladoos to coins ended up saving over Rs 1.5 lakh.