Pilgrimage trips to home appliances: Politicians shower gifts on voters in poll-bound Karnataka

Freebies galore

While the national political parties are coming up with various programmes, like the Congress’ Gruha Lakshmi Yojana or the BJP’s free bus facilities for working women labourers (CM Bommai announced it in the 2023-24 fiscal budget), its leaders have chosen other ways to woo voters for the April-May Assembly polls.

Among the political leaders found wooing voters publicly are Health and Family Welfare Minister and Chikkaballapur MLA K Sudhakar, Minister for Excise and Mahalakshmi Layout MLA K Gopalaiah, former BJP minister KS Eshwarappa, Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar, Hebbal MLA Byrathi Suresh, and KGF MLA Roopakala Sashidhar.

The “revdi” — a North Indian euphemism for freebies — being given to voters by these political leaders include sponsoring tours to weekend trips and pilgrimages (Dharmasthala, Tirupati, and popular temples of coastal Karnataka) to gifting sarees, cooking utensils, or home appliances, to even organising cultural fests and health check-up camps.

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Rangappa M (name changed), a retired government employee and voter from the Mahalakshmi Layout in Bengaluru, told South First: “We got a four-day tour offer from the local MLA. All the expenses — from accommodation to food charges — would be borne by the MLA’s office. The tour offers are being made to only those who have their name registered in the electoral rolls of Mahalakshmi Layout.”

Siddaramgowda, who is also a beneficiary of freebies, told South First: “Chikkaballapur MLA Sudhakar, who is also a minister, organised a rangoli competition for women on a large scale last month. He gave sarees, utensils, and home appliances to all the participants. He also organised a big cultural programme, nothing like which had been seen in the past. This is nothing but revdi.”

Meanwhile, Hebbal MLA Byrathi Suresh was found giving away brand new 32-inch smart TVs to many people in his constituency from the last week of January to mid-February.

He claimed that this would be helpful for those students attending online classes.

ನನ್ನ ಸ್ವಂತ ಹಣದಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಮತ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರಾದ್ಯಂತ #LEDTV ಗಳನ್ನು ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳ #onlineclasses ಗಳ ಅನುಕೂಲಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಸ್ಥಳೀಯ ಮುಖಂಡರೊಂದಿಗೆ ಹಂಚಿಕೆಗೆ ಚಾಲನೆ ನೀಡಿದೆ. pic.twitter.com/p8SAZYj52l

— Byrathi Suresh (@byrathi_suresh) January 29, 2023

In a bid to woo Tamil voters, Shivamogga MLA KS Eshwarappa and KGF MLA Roopakala sponsored a pilgrimage tour in January for voters in their respective Assembly segments.

“MLA Roopakala, who is the daughter of former Union minister KH Muniyappa, not only sponsored a pilgrimage trip for women voters but also reportedly gave money and made them take an oath before God that they would vote for her. She has not carried out a single development work, nor addressed the grievances of the people,” said an enraged Kamarajan, an auto-rickshaw driver and a resident of KGF town.

Even Congress lawmakers — Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar and Khanapur MLA Anjali Nimbalkar — were found giving utensils and gifts at local religious events in their respective Assembly constituencies in December.

Also read: ‘Revdi’ galore by BJP government in Karnataka budget 2023

What can be done about it?

Political commentators said such gifts from politicians to voters ahead of the Assembly polls were inevitable, and that there was no effective law to put a break to these activities.

Political analyst Narayana A told South First: “Unfortunately, we don’t have anything (by way of the law) to prevent politicians from giving gifts to lure voters. The Election Commission can act only when the Model Code of Conduct is in place. There is no effective law to prevent this.”

He added: “As long as inequality exists in the society, this culture from politicians continues to woo voters. It is money power that is influencing voters in India. It is an inevitable aspect of Indian elections.”

Also read: Congress releases 10-point manifesto for coastal Karnataka

Responding to these incidents, Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena said that there are ways to curb such practices even before the poll process begins.

According to a PTI report, Meena said: “The Model Code of Conduct comes into effect from the date of elections. Till then (We deliberated) what we can do in the light of the recent media reports which allege that the political parties and the elected representatives are doing different activities to garner votes.”

He added: “I chaired a meeting with all the enforcement agencies from both the Central and state government and directed them to take action against them as per the existing rules and regulations. The commercial tax department can raid the godowns and find out whether there is any violation of the GST act there or not.”

He continued: “The commercial tax department raided two warehouses in Chikkamagaluru and Tumakuru and found that those goods were not authorised. The owners of the warehouses were penalised. There are various ways in which these departments can enforce their own laws and help us to control these activities.”

Also read: Karnataka Congress revives ‘Anna Bhagya’ as poll guarantee