Sale of poll material yet to pick up, traders hopeful of brisk biz
“Our business has been affected due to various restrictions imposed by the Election Commission. Candidates are not spending too much money on campaign material,” shopkeeper says.
Traders at Agra’s Seth Gali market, known for the sale of election campaign material, are optimistic of a brisk business this time though the sale has not picked up yet.
They hope that their business will go up once the candidates of various parties file their nominations.
Ankit Agrawal, a trader, says: “So far, the response is lukewarm as none of the party workers or city heads have approached us. However, we are expecting a good business in the days to come.”
“Party leaders and workers will turn up after Holi. During nominations, party members place orders for election campaign material like flags, posters, banners, badges and other paraphernalia,” says Ankit.
A salesman at the shop says, “The price of flags varies from ₹3 to ₹40 depending on the size. We charge ₹2 per poster and have the rate list for election material.”
Another shopkeeper Bhagwan Das Gupta says the demand was good in the last Lok Sabha election. “During the UP assembly election in 2017, business was down due to demonetisation,” he recalls.
“We are getting orders from national as well as regional parties. Even independent candidates also contact us for campaign material,” says Das.
Asked about payment mode, he replies: “We do not face any problem while receiving payments from parties. We ask for payment in advance and then allow the parties to collect their material.”
According to a business, who did not wish to named, there are many restrictions this time around. “Our business has been affected due to various restrictions imposed by the Election Commission. Candidates are not spending too much money on campaign material,” he says.
“Business in the city is not very good as most of the party candidates receive election campaign material from their headquarters. Many of them prefer to buy it from Delhi which is only 200 kilometres away,” he adds.
Vishnu Agarwal, 60, who is in the business for past two decades, turns nostalgic while talking about his business.
“In the past, we did not have television and social media and elections were all about campaigning through poll material. We had handmade flags and posters but now machines have made task easier. But technology has also taken our business away,” rues Agarwal.
“We earlier relied only on elections and used to do brisk business as polls took place frequently. There were little limitations on expenditure by candidates and the orders were huge,” says Agarwal.
Speaking about Seth Gali, he says: “Initially, it was a market of ‘kagaz’ (paper) and election campaign business came later. There are sweet shop too. Traders from nearby districts love to have sweets from shops here.”
‘We get printed material from Surat and Mathura and sell it here as Seth Gali still enjoys the reputation of market for election campaign at least for old war horses,” says Agarwal.