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If political parties are crooning parodies of Bollywood chartbusters to woo the voter, Delhi's chief electoral office is not far behind in coming up with its own take on the runaway hit 'Pappu Can't Dance' to get its message across that each vote counts.
Through its radio jingle 'Pappu Vote Nahin Deta' (or Pappu doesn't cast his vote), a take-off on the catchy number from the movie Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, the CEO has created a character, Pappu, who in various roles as an auto-rickshaw driver or a shopkeeper, does everything else right but does not vote. Hence Delhi's citizens are being urged not to be 'Pappus' but go out to cast their vote.
These jingles being aired on FM channels are meant to reach out especially to the youth to encourage them to exercise their franchise, said Satbir Silas Bedi, Delhi's chief electoral officer. ''It is the best way to connect with them,'' she said, talking of the EC's plan to play the Pied Piper to get the voter out of their holes.
The Congress, for its part, has lifted the spirited 'Jee karda bhai jee karda' from the Akshay Kumar starrer Singh is Kinng to pen its own lines -- 'Jee karda bhai jee karda, Congress nu jeetaan da jee karda, Aaj desh nu bachaanu jee karda'.
''This especially targets the young voters. They relate to Bollywood songs and soon you may have everybody singing this rather than the original,'' claims a confident Ajay Vinayak, a member of the party's publicity cell.
To counter this, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party has come up with its own version of the same song, 'Vijay Kumar Malhotraji bhai Vijay Kumar Malhotraji, iss bari yahi banenge, iss bari yahi banenge, Delhi ke mukhyamantriji, Log kehte sare, banenge yahi CMji.' Its other campaign songs talk of failures of the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi.
The hit dance number 'Nagara Nagara Nagara Baja' from Jab We Met has been converted to 'Kabara Kabara Kabara, Congress ne Dilli ka kabara kiya', referring to the misdeeds of the Congress rule. Rebuffing it, the Congress points to its government's achievements in the past ten years, coming up with 'Dilli walon suno kahani, Dilli ke vikas ki, Congress ke prayas ki aur janta ke vishwas ki, Congress ka hai pran, Seva hi hai dharm' on the tune of 'Aao Bachon Tumhe Dikhaye'.
Taking on the Congress on inflation, the BJP sings 'Maar dalegi ye Congress, jaan le legi ye congress, julm dhayegi ye Congress mahangai ki chakki mein pisegi ye, ab na kisiko chhodegi ye' to the beats of 'Dard-e-Disco' from Om Shanti Om.
Another campaign song of the BJP is on the lines of 'Pardesi Pardesi' from the film Raja Hindustani which goes 'BJP hi BJP ab hone lagi, sabhi oar se, sabhi oar se, BJP ko jitana, BJP ko lana, har Dilliwasi ne ye mann mein hai thana, BJP hi BJP ab hone lagi, sabhi oar se sabhi oar se'.
To the tune of 'Mast, Mast, Mast Kalandar' from the film Hey Baby. it has yet another up its sleeve -- 'Gali gali mein shor hai, BJP ka jor hai'.
The Congress too boasts of other songs like 'Haath se Haath Mila ke Chalo,Congress ke haath ke saath chalo, chalo Congress ko jeetane chalo haath ka button dabane chalo'.
These paeans on Congress achievements sung by local singers Raj Kumar Vinayak, Lakshman Bharati and Akshay Kumar, have been brought out on CDs and distributed among all candidates, which they use during their campaigning, said Vinayak.
The BJP even has a mobile caller tune -- 'Samay parivartan ka, BJP ko samarthan ka, badal dalo ye sarkar, BJP hi abki bar'.