Bengaluru: With just eight days left for the Oct 23 elections to four legislative council seats, Dasara holidays have complicated campaigning in the two teachers’ constituencies, forcing candidates to rely on meetings outside campuses, phone calls and WhatsApp messages to reach voters.Candidates said many teachers had left for their hometowns or gone on family holidays, making door-to-door outreach difficult. Political parties and candidates with links to school management staff are organising meetings at hotels and wedding halls to bring teachers together and seek their support.The BJP-JD(S) combine Wednesday held a meeting at a kalyana mantapa in Anekal to canvass support for AP Ranganath, its Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency candidate. Congress had also organised meetings for incumbent MLC Puttanna.Ranganath told TOI that reaching teachers at their homes had become difficult. “If schools were functioning, it would be easy to visit them and seek support. Dasara holidays have made things difficult, but we are still making efforts to contact voters,” he said.Puttanna said the holidays had posed some challenges but would not significantly affect his campaign. “I have been associated with teachers for many years and have addressed many of their issues,” he said. “They are now making efforts to ensure my victory. It is not that I’ve approached teachers only during elections, but the holidays have made it difficult to reach them.”Independent candidate Umesh Babu Pillegowda said with many teachers travelling, he and his team are contacting voters via phone calls and WhatsApp messages. He said he had spent the past year helping eligible teachers enrol in electoral rolls and hoped the effort would strengthen support for him.Schools and colleges have remained closed for Dasara from Oct 10 and are scheduled to reopen only on Oct 22, leaving candidates a limited window to reach teachers in person before polling.
