From flyovers, busy crossings and state highways leading to districts - the large Pink hoardings can be seen all across the poll-bound Rajasthan. For several months the hoardings only featured the smiling face of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot appealing to the public to give the Congress another tenure. A few weeks ago, in the poster, CM Gehlot was joined by the state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara. Days before the state goes to polls, now Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot also finds a prominent place in the creatives alongside Gehlot.
According to the sources in Congress, the creatives promoting the Congress's promises, featuring Pilot and Gehlot together have been displayed in the state capital Jaipur, Tonk district, from where Pilot is contesting elections and districts in eastern Rajasthan which is dominated by the Gujjar community.
By featuring Pilot prominently in the poster, the Congress wants to send out two messages. Firstly, the internal differences between the two leaders are over and the party is fighting the election unitedly. Secondly, it is an endeavour to woo the youth and the Gujjar community in eastern Rajasthan, among which Pilot remains a popular face.
A senior Congress leader close to Pilot told Outlook, "The party knows that Pilot is the face that can help them to woo voters in all communities across districts. Besides Rajasthan, Pilot is the star campaigner for the Congress in the three other states going to polls next week and extensively visiting the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh for campaigning".
Last month Congress' posters and hoardings also splashed the face of Dotasara, days after he allegedly opposed the publicity materials created by the Designed Box, an agency looking after the Congress' election campaign in Rajasthan. However, both Dotasara, as well as the Designed Box founder Naresh Arora, refuted the allegations that were doing rounds in the local media. \
"Designed Box is looking after the election publicity of Congress. Apart from the Chief Minister Gehlot, the popular leaders featuring the publicity material include Govind Dotasara, CP Joshi, Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, Shanti Dhariwal, Vishvendra Singh and MM Malviya. The billboards have been put at many places in Rajasthan", a source at Designed Box told Outlook.
Interestingly while the publicity material of Congress features its local leaders and the popular schemes of the Gehlot government, the Congress big wigs from the centre, such as Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Rajasthan in charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also have non-descript presence, difficult to spot by a naked eye.
On the contrary, the publicity material of the polling campaign of the Bhartiya Janta Party has a mix of local and central leaders. The billboards across the state have five prominent faces with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the middle joined by the national party chief JP Nadda, Rajasthan state president CP Joshi, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore.
The state is all set to go for the poll on November 25. The result will be announced on December 3. The total electors in Rajasthan are 5.25 crore, out of which 2.73 crore are male, 2.51 crore are female and 804 are from the transgender community. Around 21.9 lakh of these are first-time voters. Out of 200 seats, 141 seats are for the general category, whereas 25 are reserved for ST and 34 for the SC community.
