Mumbai Diary | Parties find novel ways to send cash

Carrying hard cash in big amounts is problem during polls. Candidates and their parties are finding new techniques to carry cash from one place to another for distribution among the voters, though police are putting up all efforts to detect it. Opposition parties allege that candidates of the ruling parties are transferring cash in police vans, so no one would dare to inspect these vehicles. Some candidates are allegedly using ambulances or tempos carrying vegetables to send bundles of currency notes. Cash and other inducements worth Rs 175 crore to bribe voters has been seized.Will get bachelors get married: NCP nomineeIn elections, there is no limit to promises for getting votes. NCP(SP) candidate Rajesaheb Deshumkh, contesting from Parli in Maharashtra’s Beed district, promised to arrange marriages of bachelors in his constituency if he won the assembly poll. In presence of party chief Sharad Pawar, he said the reason for the youth not getting brides is unemployment. Deshumkh said his opponent, NCP (Ajit) minister Dhanajay Munde, did not bring a single industry to the constituency, so bachelors are finding it difficult to get married. “If I become an MLA, I will conduct marriages of all bachelors,” he said.Campaign workers now choosy for foodParties need to provide food to workers campaigning for their candidates. Earlier, candidates used to hire local cooks and give them required items to prepare the food for party workers. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were served in those makeshift camps. But nowadays, most of the workers have been engaged in campaigning do not prefer to eat that way. They have been demanding hard cash, at least `500 to `2000 per person, depending on their political weight. They then book a local bar to enjoy food and drinks. No one wants to campaign with mere snacks like vada pav. Now biryani is staple food for campaign workers.Sudhir Suryawanshi Our correspondent in Maharashtrasuryawanshi.sudhir@gmail.com



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