FAISALABAD, Oct 9: Despite the government claims that electioneering would not be “commercialized” this time, campaigns of various candidates consumed millions of rupees and proved yet again that there were no chances for the lower middle class to participate in elections.

During the 70s, friends and supporters of candidates used to set up election offices in their houses, prepare banners and publicity material free of cost and show affiliation with one party or the other. There used to be no uniformity of style in banners, flags, posters, stickers, hoardings and wall-chalking, as every supporter prepared such material on his own.

Things have now changed due to rampant commercialism. Candidates get banners and posters prepared themselves. Teams of professionals have cropped up for pasting and fixing this material. As much as Rs10 is charged for hanging a banner, Rs5 for pasting a poster and Rs100 for installing 50 flags in prominent places. Nowadays, voters get paid by the candidates for displaying flags. Those displaying flags and banners of a party may not even be supporters of that particular party. Similarly, owners of hand-carts, rickshaws, wagons and buses get paid to display publicity material on their vehicles.

Another feature coming to light in the 1985 non-party elections was that unlike the elections in 1970 and 1977, voters did not reach the polling stations on their own. Carrying voters from home to polling stations became a responsibility of candidates. Before 1985, candidates were not supposed to provide transport and meals to their supporters.

The tempo of electioneering has completely changed due to voters’ lack of interest. The turnout had been fairly encouraging up to 1985. However, the old hustle and bustle was neither visible in 1997 nor in the run-up to Oct 10 elections.

Formerly, parties’ meetings used to be attended by thousands of people. Chairs were only placed on stage. However, nowadays 2,000 to 4,000 chairs have to be arranged for a meeting with the unwilling voters.

Another interesting feature observed this time was rich candidates’ use of courier services for circulation of posters and elections manifestos, which is a costly affair. Moreover, hired agents are going door to door to generate support for some of the richer candidates.

An estimated 270 polling stations are to be established in a single national assembly constituency for which every candidate would have to engage at least 270 vehicles at an estimated cost of Rs1.5 to two million.

According to rough estimates, a candidate for NA has already spent seven to eight million rupees and a candidate for PA three to four million rupees on his or her election campaign. Against this average, millions of rupees have been paid by some candidates on advertisements in newspapers alone. Up to the 1977 general election, candidates used to hold meetings in big cities where people would come from far-flung areas in small processions. However, due to restrictions imposed from time to time on political activities since 1985, candidates have had to contact voters individually. In the run-up to the Oct 10 elections, the emphasis of candidates has been on petty individual problems of voters rather than the party programmes.

Biradarism has also been dominant in most constituencies. Candidates were seen running after those having influence in their biradaris.

Even the central leaders of various political parties were busy in their respective constituencies. Joint efforts to win support were almost non-existent.

Similarly, candidates are also bound to provide vote numbers to all houses. Their camps would be all too visible outside every polling station, offering free drinks and meals to voters. They are also supposed to pay every polling agent Rs500 to 1,000 besides free meals and the pick-and-drop. A candidate who spends about Rs10m on his election campaign would, in all likelihood, resort to corruption to recover all that money, a seasoned politician remarked.