Politicians woo female voters with imitation jewellery, gas stoves; feudal mindset, say women groups

Hyderabad: Ever since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force on October 9, the enforcement agencies have been confiscating cash, liquor, drugs and other election freebies daily.

The freebies or free distribution of various items for the public, which political parties undertake under the radar prior to the elections to garner voters’ support, constitute an assortment of articles: from electronic gadgets to household utility goods including two-wheelers, mobile phones, laptops, fans, rice, utensils etc.

In order to woo women voters, the parties have prepared freebies exclusively catering to women, such as sewing machines, gas stoves, pressure cookers, lunch boxes, sarees and even imitation jewellery, as per the list of seized items now under the custody of the office of state’s chief electoral officer (CEO).

Recently, CEO Vikas Raj provided information to the media about the various items seized and their worth in rupees. Apart from cash, liquor and drugs/narcotics, the enforcement agencies have also seized jewellery, precious metals and other freebies worth several crores of rupees.

Restricting the movement of freebies

“The Election Commission is trying to control the movement of freebies and cash for conducting a free and fair election. So far, we have received 2,487 complaints through the cVigil app and 437 calls through the 1950 helpline regarding violations of the MCC. All the items combined, we have a total seizure worth Rs 453,93,25,718 crores till the morning of November 3 and 362 cumulative cases of violation of MCC have been identified since October 9, when the MCC came into force,” informed CEO Vikas Raj. After including the seizure amount of November 4, the cumulative value rose to Rs 480,25,47,440 crores.

It is evident from the list of seized items that the politicians curated the freebies to specifically target the needs of male and female voters, residing in both urban and rural areas. Politicians planned to lure voters by giving them daily use household items, food, and clothing and in some cases went a few notches further by including four-wheelers and two-wheelers as freebies. In order to attract women voters, even fake jewellery was included in the list of freebies for distribution!

‘Freebies for women reflect politicians’ feudal mindset’

“Distributing freebies by politicians is just a way to corrupt the minds of common people. Men and women are enticed by these short-term election gimmicks. They are not considered as human beings but as vote banks or ballot boxes for the politicians. The items that politicians choose to attract women voters reflect their feudal mentality of relegating women within the four walls of the house and treating them as showpieces,” pointed out V Sandhya, national convener of the Progressive Organisation of Women (PoW).

‘Invest in higher education and jobs for women instead of marriage’

Questioning the distribution of freebies and certain government schemes, Sandhya said, “Why should women be given sarees and jewellery or even schemes like Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyana Lakshmi instead of schemes supporting their higher education and jobs? The purpose of politicians seems to be tempting the parents to marry the girls off quickly by providing some financial assistance rather than encouraging women to be adequately educated and be financially independent. Instead of bribing with these freebies and schemes, let politicians focus on providing proper infrastructure, civic amenities, education, health, jobs etc. But they fear educated people would question them on the lack of developmental politics and long-term public and societal welfare.”

Freebie items worth over Rs 50.56 crore seized

Till November 4, the total worth of seized freebies was Rs 50,56,29,262. These included seven two-wheelers and five four-wheelers, 71,906 mobile phones, 9,629 clocks, 5,778 fans, 101 sewing machines, 72 gas stoves, 362 lunch boxes, 1,61,752 kgs of rice, 9,159 cookers, 56,118 sarees and 15,388 pieces of imitation jewellery.

Jewellery worth Rs 175.30 crores seized

Jewellery and precious metals including gold, silver and platinum jewellery worth Rs 1,75,30,57,283 crore have been seized so far by the various enforcement agencies. These include 281.37 kg gold, 1167.21 kg silver, 5.35 gm platinum, diamonds etc.

Cash, liquor and drug seizures

The total liquor seized amounted to Rs 55,76,69,111 and the drugs (ganja) confiscated were worth Rs 27,82,30,529. The total seizure of cash is worth Rs 1,70,79,61,255.