Election paraphernalia misses on-ground excitement

The 18th Lok Sabha election begins in less than a week, but the demand for campaign material and merchandise is yet to pick up across cities.

- AJINKYA KAWALE, ANUSHKA BHARDWAJ, ISHITA AYAN DUTT & RAMVEER SINGH GURJAR

Businesses engaged in the manufacture and sale of election paraphernalia-banners, badges,  pamphlets, t-shirts, caps, bags, cutouts and masks-say compared to the last general election in 2019, the scene is muted.

Turns out that in the last 10 years, the business of election merchandise has shrunk to less than half, with the focus shifting to campaigning through digital platforms.

Earlier, each candidate would spend an average of ₹12-15 lakh on election merchandise. That is down to ₹6-8 lakh now. Overall, each candidate can spend no more than ₹95 lakh on election expenses, though the party can.

Also, with political outfits like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) having centralised procurement, traders say their businesses have been hit. The BJP, they add, is sourcing most of the election material from its chosen manufacturers in Gujarat.

Mumbai: Warming up In Dharavi, Mumbai's slum cluster that is home to scores of micro, small and medium enterprises, traders say whatever business they have, it is largely from the BJP. "The BJP has placed orders for t-shirts and caps with its new slogan: Ab ki baar, 400 paar (this time around, 400-plus seats)," says Asgar Makrani, who runs a printing unit near Dharavi.