MEERUT: With the four-phase Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls set to begin on April 15, candidates are deploying novel strategies to attract voters.
A video has gone viral in which a candidate and his supporters went to the extent of using a heavy earth-moving machine and spades for mixing ingredients to prepare laddoos to be distributed to voters. Police have booked 10 for violating model code of conduct.
The incident occurred in Gauspur village of Baghpat. The village has 3,500 votes. According to Baghpat circle officer Anuj Mishra, “Investigations have revealed that Mohammad Jabbar, a candidate for the post of gram pradhan, along with his supporters had made huge quantity of sweets and disearth mover and spades for making laddoos. Jabbar and his nine associates have been booked.”
While the poll aspirant wasn’t available for comment, some villagers said that using earth mover to make laddoos was intended to make the video shot of the activity viral. Aslam Mohammad, a villager, said, “The quantity was not that much as can be seen in the video. But the entire idea and associated tributed them among the villagers, which is a violation of the model code of conduct. A video has also come to our notice, in which he has deployed an activity was quite hilarious and within no time, the video had gone viral.”
This comes days after another pradhan aspirant was caught in a village in Amroha with 100 kg of rasgullas. He was distributing the packets among the voters. In the four-phase elections for 60,000 gram panchayats in the state, Baghpat will go to polls in the second phase on April 19. At present, nomination papers are being filed.