students to join poll rallies

NAVI MUMBAI:

Driven by poll fervour

or not, many city youths are happy to lend their support,

lung and manpower

to make a fast buck and avail other attractive perks by joining election rallies.

Free fuel, biryani, snacks, cold drinks and even alcohol, besides a decent

daily allowance

are some of the sops on offer by enthusiastic aspirants fighting the first

PCMC

polls, scheduled on May 24.

To add heft to high-octane campaigns and numbers to poll rallies, around 20,000 youths have been temporarily recruited by the candidates to woo voters, say political pundits. Out of them at least 50-70 are college students.

For the college students, this is a great way to earn some extra pocket money during summer vacation without upsetting studies. For the unemployed, this is a golden opportunity to earn anything between Rs 300 and 800 daily apart from petrol expenditure of Rs 200.

“I have not gone to my native place during summer vacation. My friends asked me to join the ongoing poll campaigns and earn some good money,” said Amit Pawar, a second year B A student from Kalamboli.

“Even a small rally has at least 50-70 supporters so the daily expenses of the rally members footed by a candidate run into lakhs,” said a political observer.

But no one can fault the candidates for not taking good care of the young rally-goers. Most candidates have already placed orders for vegetable biryani on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and non-vegetarian biryani treat is reserved for Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

“We have to think of the campaigners who are out in the sweltering heat to campaign for us. After all, this happens only once in five years,” said a poll aspirant.