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Dial support: Call from CM
If you thought you had had enough of blaring loudspeakers and political meetings and rallies in the middle of the road, you may well be in for a shock — campaigning has now even invaded your homes. Tasmayee Laha Roy reports.
If you thought you had had enough of blaring loudspeakers and political meetings and rallies in the middle of the road, you may well be in for a shock — campaigning has now even invaded your homes. Recorded messages on the phone and text messages are the newest campaign tools.
Even after the door-to-door campaigning stopped 48 hours before the D-day, voters on Wednesday received recorded calls and texts from the candidates. A few were taken aback when they answered a call and heard a voice say: “Namashkar ami Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee”.
“I was stumped to hear the voice I have been hearing on television almost everyday of late! For a moment, I thought that the chief minister had actually called me up, but then I realised that it was a recorded call. It was a good attempt nevertheless. There was a personal touch in the call and I think it will influence my decision,” said Kankana Sen, a second year physics honours student of Jaipuria College and a resident of Jadavpur.
There were similar pre-recorded calls from Nirupam Sen, who said that if given a chance he would work towards development of industry and promote peace in the state.
A few voters who got this call thought that the industries and commerce minister had actually given them a call. “For a second, I was taken aback. The moment I answered the call, the person on the other end said: namashkar ami Nirupam Sen. It took me two minutes to realise that it was a recorded voice,” said Saira Ali (50), a resident of Burdwan South. “By now, we have all made up our minds and decided whom to vote for. This last-minute campaigning will be futile. In fact it is confusing us all the more.”
But Sen’s campaign calls were not restricted to his constituency but spread over Kolkata too. Residents of Tollygunge and Jadavpur constituencies also received similar recorded voice messages from PDS candidate Samir Putatunda.
There was also a flood of text messages. One such SMS read: “Paribartan ba pratyabortoner joware na bheshe rajnoitik symbol bichar na kore vote prarthider personal image dekhe apnar votadhikar prayog korun (Do not ride on he wave of change or comeback, do not be carried away by party symbols, judge the personal image of a candidate and use your voting rights)”.
There were a few anti-campaign messages doing the rounds in Chinsurah, annoying Trinamool candidate Asit Majumdar. The text accusing Majumdar of being a fraud reads: “Railway tickets scam kore Chinsura kendrer prarthi 420 Asit Majumdar Rs17 crore lopat kore. Please vote diye cheater Asit Majum-dar ke help korben na” (Chinsura nominee Asit Majumdar has pilfered rail tickets worth R17crore. Please do not vote for the cheat).
“I will be lodging a complaint with the Election Commission and seek a probe. It is necessary to find out who is maligning my name,” said Majumdar, who is contesting against five-time MLA and the state agriculture minister Naren De.
