She came to Srivilliputtur to file nominations as a dummy candidate for her father P. S. W. Madhava Rao, the Congress candidate for Srivilliputtur Assembly constituency, But she turned into a substitute candidate for him in electioneering.
A resident of Chennai, Dhivya Rao had never been into politics. This engineering graduate also does not have any experience in students’ union activities. But when her father was hospitalised after being infected with COVID-19, she readily came forward to fill his absence in election campaign.
“I never had any experience in politics. But I had to do it for my father,” says this young mother of an eight-month-old infant.
The short duration for electioneering this Assembly election has been so demanding that she is engaged from early morning till late night and even could not take care of her son who is left under the care of others.
She has been going to the nooks and corners of the constituency in the campaign vehicle. Accompanied by a group of women, she walks on the streets to meet voters. “I am telling voters that I have come to seek votes for my father who is down with COVID-19. I also tell them that soon he will be back to meet them,” she said.
Though she has to put up with the scorching sun, Ms. Dhivya said the warmth she received from voters is what keeps her going.
Among the regular promises of development of the constituency like Azhagar dam scheme, she also recalls her father’s promise that, if elected, he would donate the monthly MLA salary all through his five-year tenure for the benefit of the needy.
She is hopeful of a huge victory for her father, “for the voters in the polling booths will look at the party symbol to vote for him. That way the ‘hand’ (Congress symbol) will be very helpful,” Ms. Dhivya said.