Dinesh Kamath's news 'Candidates use various methods to appease the voters, with NMMC elections round the corner' that was published in Newsband

Candidates use various methods to appease the voters

With NMMC elections round the corner

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Eight nodes - Digha, Airoli, Ghansoli, Koparkhairane, Vashi, Turbhe, Nerul and CBD - this time have 111 wards for the forthcoming municipal elections. This means there will be 22 seats more than the last Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation election. The number of voters also has increased this time. There will be around 8 lakhs voters this time which means an increase of around 2 lakhs voters as compared to last NMMC elections.  

Ghansoli is having the most number of additional voters owing to the fact that this time it has 14 constituencies as compared to six last time and also because of the rapid growth in the population here during the last few months. This growth in population is what compelled NMMC to convert six wards into 14.  Ghansoli beats even Vashi now when it comes to number of wards since Vashi has only 11 wards.

Those contesting the forthcoming NMMC elections are coming up with new methods of wooing the voters. They are making use of the latest technological developments. They have made themselves very conversant with social networking platforms like Facebook and Whatsapp. In addition they are using new methods like using toll-free numbers, live videos and interactive mobile-based applications. They are still researching to find out if there are any more technology available to exploit for the polls. They are not ignoring the old methods like distributing of pamphlets or sharing of posts on social networking sites. The voters’ responses on these sites are spontaneous and hence the candidates can get instantly the idea about how popular he is with the voters. Setting up a toll-free numbers enables the voters to convey their response free of cost without using a phone.  The candidates use the mobile application to make voters aware about details of their development works.

These aspiring candidates are prepared to go to any extent to keep increasing their chances of winning the elections. Some even distributed utensils to the voters of his ward. Another got a road immediately constructed to appease the voters who had been demanding a road since a very long time. Still another candidate distributed diaries. There is still another candidate who is distributing free Wi-Fi to thousands of people in his ward. Many big promises are being made to the voters. They are promised anything they want – like free internet connection, installation of a tower etc. Some candidates have come up with new party offices and voters are allowed to meet them any time during day or night.

Thus the residents of the city are witnessing the positive changes in behaviours of the candidates as the date of NMMC elections draws closer and closer. These residents are only hoping that these candidates will maintain this kind of attitude even after winning the elections.