Gurdaspur: Candidates avoid daytime rallies due to heatwave

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, May 22

As an intense heatwave bakes the region, candidates have put on hold daytime rallies and instead are focusing on door-to-door campaigns and nukkad meetings. Maximum precautions are being taken to minimise the effect of extreme temperatures.

Congress nominee Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who is going door-to-door these days, says it is the “survival of the fittest” as he harps on the Darwinian theory. He has given clear instructions to his loyalists accompanying him on his campaign to fill his vehicle with a particular brand of mineral water to the brim.

Likewise, AAP candidate Sherry Kalsi has asked his followers to cancel all rallies, big and small. Instead, he is holding nukkad meetings wherever he goes. “Such meetings are better than holding rallies where people have to bear the sweltering heat. Moreover, you can also go inside a supporter’s house to have a drink that soothes your nerves. In a rally, we cannot do all this. Hence, I prefer to hold corner meetings to present my party’s viewpoint,” he says.

SAD candidate Daljit Singh Cheema has also changed his modus-operandi. “If this heat-wave persists, there are chances that the voting percentage may come down on June 1. Hence, the Election Commission should instruct district administration to make arrangements to provide drinking water to the voters,” he said. He was to address some morning meetings in the border town of Dorangla today but postponed it. His latest addition is a heat resistance box containing a variety of cold drinks, mineral water and packed bottles of lassi.

Dinesh Babbu, who often has to face the wrath of the protesting farmers, too has changed the way he and his team carry out their campaign to avoid the blistering sun. “Earlier, I had to face the heat from the farmers. Now I am facing this heat. Both are difficult to handle. It was so cold this past winter, so I know it is going to be a hot summer,” he said.

“The ECI should start polling an hour earlier and end it an hour after the designated time. This is the only way people will come to vote. Otherwise, under these circumstances, not much polling is going to take place on June 1,” said a candidate.

Meanwhile, BJP workers are keeping their fingers crossed as far as the PM’s rally to be held at Dinanagar on May 24 is concerned. “We are pulling out all the stops to make sure the ground is filled to the maximum. We know it is a difficult task but nevertheless we are trying,” said an organiser.