Tamil Nadu - Erode   

On the campaign trail, with ice creams for refreshment

Karthik Madhavan

Children mobilise votes for a candidate contesting the local body polls

VOICING SUPPORT: Children raise slogans urging people to vote for K. Vivekanandhan, the AIADMK candidate for Ward 40 in Erode Municipality, at Surampatty on Friday. — Photo: M. Govarthan

Erode: "Please vote for K. Vivekanandan, contesting in Ward 40 of Erode Municipality. If elected, he will take care of the area's needs and remain a true inheritor of MGR's legacy," campaigns a voice coming out from a cone speaker tied to a three-wheeler.

It continues mobilising votes saying a few more things, changes track to sing the praises of the candidate, and then ends reminding voters that election is on September 15 and that the symbol they should vote for is two-leaves.

The voice belongs to Prabhu, a Class 6 student. He is a resident in Ward 40 and so is the group of children who stand with him on the three-wheeler, meant only for ferrying goods. The group, numbering about 40, consists of boys and girls in shorts and skirts. They repeat in chorus whatever Master Prabhu says.

The students say they are campaigning for Vivekanandan uncle, who has got them ice creams. They continue the campaign with ice creams in their hands. Thursday's treat was different. "Last night after campaigning, the boys and girls asked for a treat and I gave them biriyani," says the candidate himself.

He, however, hastens to add that the young ones came together voluntarily and that there had been no mobilisation. "To see them as paid campaigners will be way off the mark. They are campaigning on their own." The campaign with children has been on for the past two days.

The freebies do not end with this but extend to the day of counting. Mr. Vivekanandan says the children have asked him for fireworks and crackers as Deepavali gifts in case he wins. He hopes he will be able to treat them.

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