MUMBAI: As part of its outreach campaign during last month’s civic elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit in Nagpur adopted an unusual strategy -lightly spraying perfume while distributing voter slips door to door.
The initiative was rolled out in the run-up to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation elections, in which the BJP secured a sweeping victory, winning 102 of the 151 wards and retaining power for the fourth consecutive term.
According to local party leaders, the idea was aimed at making voter interactions more personable and less transactional. The Nagpur city unit, led by Dayashankar Tiwari, supplied pocket-sized perfume bottles bearing the party’s lotus symbol to more than 36,000 booth-level workers. These workers, known as Panna Pramukhs and responsible for outreach to voters, listed on specific pages of the electoral roll, were instructed to lightly spray the fragrance before handing over voter slips.
Tiwari said the gesture was intended as a courteous welcome. “Many residents who would normally just accept the slip at the door paused to speak with our workers. In some cases, they even invited them inside, allowing for more detailed conversations about the party’s work,” he said.
Elaborating further on the perfume outreach, Tiwari said that the perfume contained a blend of various floral fragrances and was not from any particular brand. He stated that the perfumes were supplied by the state unit of the party as part of the campaign material and were accounted for within the prescribed election expenditure limits. He added that while it is difficult to quantify the impact of the initiative under the scheme, the campaign succeeded in adding a personal touch and fostering a stronger connection with voters.
He clarified that the perfume bottles were not distributed to voters, stressing that gifting them could have been construed as an inducement under the Model Code of Conduct. “We did not give the perfume to voters. That would have been a violation. Fragrance is also a personal preference. The idea was symbolic- to convey goodwill, not to influence,” he said.
Nagpur has over 3,000 polling booths, each managed by around a dozen Panna Pramukhs, who are tasked with delivering voter slips and mobilising support in the days leading up to polling.
While party leaders described the move as innovative and culturally rooted in hospitality, it drew mixed reactions. Tiwari acknowledged that in a few instances, elderly residents appeared uncomfortable with the spraying.