As the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) election race gathers pace, candidates are trying new ways to stand out from the crowd. Along with traditional campaigning, many contestants are now relying on Public Relations (PR) agencies to manage their image and messages. The upcoming NMC election is going to an explosive event with huge budgets at play. Some of this money is going to trickle into hiring PR agencies as many contestents are hiring PR agencies to manage their election campaigns.

 

Currently, there are about 25 to 30 large PR agencies in the city which are offering their services in various packages. Sources informed that basic package starts at Rs 2 lakh with minimal services and rises by lakhs as per the services required by the candidate. The services includes ground survey, voter outreach programmes to identify issues and problems, profiling candidates, newspaper reports, advertisement, social media posts and uploading photos, videos on Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp, sending bulk SMS, advertising, leaflet distribution, creating a manifesto, voice calls, training workers to use voter list software, among other services.

 

To make the money during the NMC elections, outstation PR agencies from Mumbai, Pune and Nashik are also camping in the city. These agencies have workforce of around 150 staffers in city that performed in the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections, claimed the source. Similarly, some candidates who do not have big budgets, hire local individuals that offer specific or limited services like only posting videos on social media and sending bulk Whatsapp messages. These services are available, starting from Rs 50,000. Also, the list of mobile numbers pertaining to a specific area or Prabhag are available in the market. The candidates are increasingly trying to appear in the newspapers and digital media platforms.

 

 

A political observer said that in earlier times, political parties had dedicated workers who supported candidates without asking for money. These workers campaigned honestly and worked hard to help their party leaders win elections. However, the situation has changed over the years. Now, many party workers ask for remuneration while doing the work. In some cases, even after taking money, they do not perform their duties as expected. This has created problems for candidates who depend on them during elections.