Anil paints graffiti for the Congress’s gram panchayat candidate, Anju Sarkar, in Udaipur. A hurricane lamp burns in front of the wall. Picture by Nityananda Sarkar

Raiganj, May 6: For Anil Das, the morning is spent painting the Congress’s election symbol and the rest of the day and evening, daubing the walls with brightly coloured star, hammer and sickle and leaping lions for the CPM and the Forward Bloc.

An RJD candidate himself, Anil finds little time to canvass for votes and instead lugs around hurricane lamps, his party’s election symbol. The 27-year-old is contesting for the Raiganj panchayat samiti in the May 18 rural polls.

This morning, The Telegraph found Anil painting a wall for a Congress panchayat samiti candidate in his own constituency on the outskirts of Raiganj town. Two hurricane lamps stood burning at both ends of the wall he was working on.

“For the past 12 years, I have been making a living as a signboard painter and whenever an election comes, all the political parties give me contracts to do their poll graffiti. At present, I am working in all the blocks of Raiganj,” Anil said.

About his own prospects, Anil pleaded helplessness. “If I spend all my time campaigning, I will have to cancel all contracts which I cannot afford to. This is my profession and my family needs the money. But once I finish work, I spend some time to canvass for votes in the evening,” he said.

Anil has made it clear to his customers that he will carry around his election symbol wherever he works. “People get curious about the lighted hurricane lamps and ask me about them. That is when I explain my candidature and get whatever little limelight I can.”

The painter-candidate, however, refused to disclose the rates that he charges, but added that he was taking 25 per cent less than the usual for carrying his symbol around.

“It is not very satisfying to write paeans about my opponents, but I am helpless as my family needs the money,” Anil said.

The unusual style of Anil’s campaign has not gone unnoticed. Bimal Sarkar, a school teacher in the Maraikura area, said Anil’s idea of canvassing only proved his intelligence. “Although the RJD has no base here, the locals are fed up with the mainstream parties and the monotonous speeches made by their leaders. Anil’s approach, on the other hand, is interesting,” Sarkar said.

Anil’s Congress rival, Animesh Debnath, said the youth was well known in the area. “He is definitely a strong candidate this time. Even if he does not win, I am sure he will spring a few surprises,” Debnath said.

Jibananda Singha, a CPM leader, dismissed Anil’s chances. “He will have no impact on the polls,” Singha said.

Zilla parishad arrest

A CPM zilla parishad member from Malda, Abdul Rauf, was arrested from his home for an attempt to murder case that dates back to June 16, 2006. District police chief Satyajit Bandyopadhyay said the court had issued an arrest warrant against Rauf. Besides the murder bid, Rauf was also implicated in a case of rioting with bombs on September 16, 2007.