Hyderabad: Hi-tech vehicles set to add colour to poll campaign

Hyderabad : Hoping that the elections would be held as per schedule, the political parties are gearing up for launching their campaign from the first week of October. As usual all parties are vying with each other to take up high voltage, high tech campaign. This has led to sudden demand for customised vehicles equipped with the latest facilities, including LED screens for live streaming.

The BRS seems to be having an advantage since it has already announced the list of all 119 candidates but the problem is with Congress and BJP aspirants since these two parties are yet to announce their candidates. Some are getting ready in anticipation. The BJP aspirant from Kamareddy has got his campaign vehicle ready. All parties are of the opinion that the Election Commission would announce the schedule by October 10.

The leaders feel that the campaign with custom-made vehicles would help their message reach people directly and faster than the traditional mode like padyatra and door-to-door campaigns. Videos and live streaming would also help in attracting more crowds for their meetings, they feel. Sources said that the BJP is ahead of all other parties in booking the maximum number of campaign vehicles. In BRS, Excise Minister V Srinivas Goud has booked a custom-made vehicle which is equipped with a hydraulic stage. Similarly, Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy, Gadwal MLA Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy are also ready with their swanky looking vehicles. The Excise Minister would be launching his campaign from Friday or Saturday.

Sometimes political leaders require more than one vehicle to cover the constituency. As the demand is high, the vehicle suppliers were even hiring vehicles from neighbouring states to meet the demand.

Shasi Kiran Goud of Zuper LED said that the inquiries have gone up in the last fortnight. He said that the BJP had the highest number of 60 bookings followed by BRS 25 and Congress 20. He said that while the demand is more, the vehicles are limited. Some of them take vehicles on rent on a monthly basis and some of them shell out more than Rs 10 lakh for a custom-made vehicle, a leader said.