A well-written personal letter may be the most effective way to communicate to voters. They want to know how their representative feels about issues, especially when those issues involve decisions made at the grassroots.
When the high octane campaign phase grips the election scenario in the State, an Independent candidate contesting from the Koikkal division of Kollam Corporation is relying on a low-pitched yet effective mode of campaign. The candidate, M.H. Indira, is writing letters to voters soliciting their votes. Ms. Indira is popular in the division as an officer who retired from the benefits disbursement wing of the Corporation. When she decided to contest, she wrote letters to her relatives abroad asking them to come down and vote for her. Some of the letters received positive response and this triggered the idea in her “why not write letters to all voters in the division.”
The address is there in the voters’ list and so apart from the traditional house visit, she is now soliciting votes through letters too. Her husband, Sasidharan, also retired government employee, assists her by writing the letters. The method at a time when letter writing is becoming rare, this campaign medium is attracting attention.
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Ms. Indira says that till Tuesday about 400 letters have been posted. Her target is to post at least 1,000 such letters. She also sketches her election symbol, “mobile phone” on white sheets of paper and pastes them all over the constituency.
Ms. Indira, who had maintained a close relationship with the public during her stint in the Corporation, says she is confident of victory because in local bodies’ election “it is personal relationship more than politics that matters.”