Shillong, Feb. 22: Campaigning for Wednesday’s Assembly polls in Meghalaya has been low-key so far but the United Democratic Party (UDP) and the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) have caught the imagination of the public with audio cassettes and compact discs.

Apart from holding public meetings and organising house-to-house campaigns, a few parties have come out with ingenious methods to sway the electorate.

The UDP, the largest regional party, has come out with an audio cassette named Ha Ka Bom, which has six songs in Khasi.

These describe the achievements of the party during the last Assembly, besides spelling out bits of its manifesto for putting the state on the fast track to development.

“One has to realise that the people, by and large, are fed up with the political bickering and instability that occurred during the last Assembly. So it has been necessary to come up with something innovative that would capture the imagination of the people,” said Harding L. Massar, the candidate from Mawkhar in Shillong.

He said the cassette was selling like “hot cakes” and finds this promising as far as the party’s prospects in Wednesday’s polls are concerned. “Each cassette has been priced at Rs 40,” he added.

The KHNAM, the political wing of the Khasi Students’ Union, on the other hand, cites other reasons for coming out with new techniques of campaigning.

“Unlike the other parties, we are starved of funds and cannot afford to spend too much moolah to attract voters. So we had to take recourse to other means,” said party vice-president Danny K. Khyriem.

But unlike the Ha Ka Bom, these CDs produced by the KHNAM and the KSU don’t make an appeal for votes. “Our aim is to make the people aware about the state of affairs in the state and the nefarious role played by politicians. Let them decide which party to vote for,” said the KHNAM vice-president.

He added that the demand for the two different kinds of CDs, both audio and video, priced at Rs 20 and Rs 50 respectively, has gone far beyond expectations. This has forced “the party to make additional recordings.”

The 35-minute video CD has speeches by renowned personalities like H. Khonglah and Herbran Syiem, which mainly highlight the trials and tribulations of the Khasi people before the creation of the hill state in 1970.

The audio CD has songs composed in the Acapala style of South Africa, which make an attempt at rousing the patriotic fervour of the people.

With the administration going into an overdrive to enforce the model code of conduct issued by the Election Commission, political parties have been careful not to be caught on the wrong foot.

“The scenario this time is very different from what it was in 1998. We have acted promptly on the complaints received so far, which have included seizure of vehicles and a few arrests,” said West Khasi Hills deputy commissioner P. Shakil Ahamed.

He added that the administration has taken special steps to apprise all candidates about the guidelines.

The code of conduct has nearly 40 guidelines, ranging from the ceiling on expenditure by every candidate to pasting of banners and posters.

And it seems to have worked. In the entire 100-km stretch from Shillong to Nongstoin in West Khasi Hills, there are only three banners and a handful of posters in just a few spots. It is quite difficult to believe that Meghalaya would be going to the polls just a few days from now.