Noida/Ghaziabad: Where’s the josh? The lacklustre poll season this time is a marked difference from the rush of 2014. Political parties blamed strict rules by the Election Commission of India, and said even putting up the party’s flag on one’s car requires permission from the authorities.A visit to the camp offices of various parties in Ghaziabad revealed that while candidates are busy visiting assembly constituencies and carrying out door-to-door campaigning, a number of volunteers are working round-the-clock on social media to spread their messages.According to party leaders, all three candidates of the major parties in Ghaziabad are holding more than 15 meetings daily.Sitting with a few party workers at Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party’s camp office on Ambedkar road in Ghaziabad, Pandit Rakesh Sharma, who introduced himself as the media coordinator of Brahman Samaj, said: “Gone are the days when the election season used to be a show of strength for political parties. The entire place used to be covered in hoardings and pamphlets, while loudspeakers blared at full strength outside offices. But everything requires permission these days.”Bijendra Yadav, general secretary of the UP Congress Committee, said they are concentrating on campaigning on the ground rather than sitting at the camp office. “Our teams are on the ground. Each one of them has been given a certain responsibility and they are executing it. Our social media teams are active.” To a query related to the ECI’s directives for model of conduct, Yadav said restrictions are good in a way as they are presenting a level playing field to all candidates.“The rules are for everyone, so there is no complaint. A limit on poll expenditure has also been put. Of course, there is no pomp and show this time around.”Meanwhile, Ghaziabad’s poster business has not seen any big jump even in this peak season, as principal parties, especially the BJP and Congress, have outsourced campaign materials to their central offices.“During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and even in the 2017 assembly polls, we did business to the tune of Rs 50 lakh. This time, we have done business of less than Rs 2 lakh,” said Vinod Kurma Veenu, who has been in the poster business for the past 20 years. In Noida, party members are busy campaigning for their candidates all day. At the BJP office in Sector 9, party workers start gathering from 8am onwards.“We dispatch teams to different sectors and villages to campaign for our candidate,” said chief manager Mohan Sharma.At the SP-BSP alliance’s office in Barola, a large number of workers from SP, BSP and RLD could be seen.Their strategy is similar to the BJP — party workers gather in the office and leave for designated places to campaign.The Congress office in Barola, meanwhile, looked vacant, with only a few women workers present on Sunday. Congress Noida secretary Captain P S Rawat (retd) claimed that most workers were busy campaigning.“Rival candidates have filled their offices with paid workers. The BJP has not fulfilled its promises made in the 2014 manifesto. We are hopeful that Congress will win this time,” he said.Candidates are also campaigning on social media platforms. BJP candidate Mahesh Sharma has 1,81,000 followers on Twitter and 5,05,000 likes on his Facebook page. Congress candidate Arvind Kumar Singh also has a Facebook page with 1,73,000 likes. on the other hand, BSP candidate Satveer Nagar has 8,000 likes on Facebook.

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