Recordist Aakash Kumar Gupta works on an album at the studio in Bakarganj. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, April 17: Several candidates in the panchayat election fray have taken a leaf out of the Pied Piper of Hamelin’s book. They have opted for musical way to woo voters.

The arsenal of such candidates is the city’s recording studios. They are getting albums done on their promises and those in the sound recording business are minting money.

Thirty-five-year-old Sanjay Choudhary, who is contesting from Kharik Dakshini in the Zila Parishad elections, said: “Music is above any religion, language and region. Sometimes, words fail to get a point across. So I decided to present my promises to the voters through music.”

Sanjay is working on his election album with Sagar Digital Studio in Bakarganj near Gandhi Maidan.

“I want Bhojpuri songs to be included in my album. A male and female voice is mandatory. The compositions should include comic dialogues and at least one song should be composed in my regional language Angika,” Sanjay told Aakash Kumar Gupta, the recordist.

The business of the music studios around Bakarganj area has received a boost from the rural poll candidates’ campaign strategy.

“This is the profit-making time of the year and we don’t want to miss out on it. The recordings started around a month-and-a-half back and are likely to continue till the end of this month. We have already composed more than 800 songs and are working all night now to finish our work,” said 19-year-old Aakash.

He added that each album contains seven to eight songs and interspersed dialogues. The minimum cost is Rs 2,500.

Lyricist Ravi Sur Lehri shared the demands of the candidates.

He said: “The only motive of the candidates is to connect to the crowd. So, they keep reminding us to incorporate elements from popular Bollywood numbers into our compositions. They also want to add shayaris and dramatic lines. Lines like ‘Ae kaka ae kaki ae chacha ae chachi, chala booth vote deve’ are their favourites.”

The lyricist added: “Apart from including their achievements, they want us to add the failures of their opponents. They want me to show their positive side and I am flooded with requests to add flattering lines mentioning their die-hard honesty and high values.”