Visakhapatnam: Flex makers find this election season not so lucrative

Visakhapatnam: Unlike earlier times, flex makers find this election season pretty dull as not many politicians are coming forward to invest in campaign material in a big way.

Those engaged in making poll material lament that no encouraging bookings or orders are coming their way as a majority of the contesting candidates prefer to minimise the use of huge cut-outs, posters, hoardings, banners at public spots.

Elaborating about the challenges faced, owner of Neelima Graphics Nagula Jagan says that none of his branches is making even 20 per cent of business. "We never had such a dull season earlier. Apart from our main outlet in Hyderabad, we do have branches in Vijayawada, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam. None of them have so far registered any great booking," he laments.

Though the poll material makers suffered a blow due to the coronavirus pandemic, traders say that it takes a while for them to recover from the losses incurred. "Currently, contesting candidates are not opting for any huge banners or cut-outs. Even if a few orders for campaigning do trickle in, they cannot be counted as any major deal," shares Talli Appala Naidu, who operates Lakshmi Digital.

Sharing similar views, M Muralikrishna of United Digitals and Printing says, "The spending pattern of the politicians has changed. Unlike earlier polls, it is not encouraging for traders like us. Keeping the municipal polls in view, we did expect a decent business. Unfortunately, nothing of that sort happened."

Also, some of the flex makers confess that getting the bills cleared from the politicians is a gruelling task. "Unless the candidates pay part of the bill in advance and the rest soon after the delivery, we are not taking any orders. We had a tough time last time getting our bills cleared," says a flex maker at Rama Talkies.

Though a majority of the contesting candidates prefer to campaign utilising an auto-rickshaw service accompanied by an audio system that plays foot-tapping tracks composed specially for the political parties, the use of banners and cut-outs have, however, come down to a large extent.