Chandigarh, Sept. 19: Haryana’s voters are waiting with garlands but not for the netas knocking at their doors.

The garlands are for the bahus they expect the politicians to find for them — or their unmarried sons or brothers — if they want their votes.

Cheap rice and free TV sets may satisfy others but Haryana, with its growing army of bachelors, wants a poll gift that lasts a lifetime. Getting a bride is becoming tougher by the day in the state, thanks to its skewed sex ratio of 861 females to 1,000 males —- fuelled by female foeticide —and a high unemployment rate.

So, the strongest slogan ahead of the October 13 Assembly elections is coming not from the political parties but from the voters. It goes: “Bahu do, vote lo (give us brides to get our votes).”

The politicians are frustrated.

“What can we do? This is the first time we have faced such a problem. The sex ratio is indeed dismal in the state, but it’s a problem only society can rectify,” a senior Congress leader rued.

With hundreds of villages short of girls of a marriageable age, young Haryanvi males have been forced to get brides — sometimes even buy them — from other states. The growing unemployment too is prompting many families to marry their daughters to suitable boys from outside the state.

In Jind, the state’s Jat heartland, a protest was held at the old bus stand on Thursday demanding brides for votes. “Nobody wants to marry their daughters to unemployed youths,” grumbled Pawan Kumar, president of the Kunwara (Bachelor) Association.

“We will hold a similar protest on September 23. It’s time the politicians understood the gravity of the problem. Our unemployed youths would outnumber most countries’ armies.”

In Rohtak, the home district of chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the demand for brides has put the ruling Congress in a quandary.

“We cannot berate the voters for raising such a demand. We cannot ask the police to clamp down on them. If the demand increases, we will all be out of business,” a local party leader said.

The main Opposition, the Indian National Lok Dal, is equally stunned. At his village meetings, party chief Om Prakash Chautala has been pointing at young men and saying, to loud cheers, that he would do “something” for them.

But all that his party has promised is a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 for the educated unemployed. So far, there has been no word about brides.

“Since the politicians claim they can do everything, they better do something about the growing number of bachelors in every village,” thundered Randhir Singh, head of the powerful Meham Chaubisi Panchayat, a conglomerate of 24 villages in Rohtak whose diktats can make or mar any politician’s future in the state.

“Village elders who are not getting brides for their sons are not wrong in saying that if the parties want votes, they had better find brides for the youths first,” Singh added.

Most politicians have so far responded with the stock reply that “the people’s grievances will be looked into”.

Mange Ram, the sarpanch of Jallopur in Fatehabad, said the demand was coming mostly from the Jats. He added: “It is a just call and the future of Haryana depends on it. Politicians must accept the responsibility of marrying off the bachelors.”