Campaign pamphlets are eminently disposable. They are usually discarded the moment a candidate leaves. However, in a remote panchayat of Odisha’s Kalahandi district, they are set to be the harbinger of good fortune. Voters are not throwing away pamphlets handed out by sarpanch candidate Sasmita Naik in Kuhura panchayat under Golamunda block of Kalahandi. They are preserving the pamphlets till March 13, when Ms. Naik says she will hold a lottery for which the pamphlets, carrying separate serial numbers, will be the coupons.
The first prize in the lottery is 10 gm of gold, followed by a refrigerator, 10 gm of silver, a washing machine, ten mobile phones, ten ceiling fans, 50 grinders, 50 pressure cookers, and 1,000 cotton sarees.
“Our opponents are spending huge money in the elections paying bribes, throwing feasts and giving wine. We could not match their financial muscle. We came up with idea to hold a lottery if my wife went on to win the election,” Ms. Naik’s husband, Binod Naik, said.
