Indian vote marked by mother of all election promises

If you think Irish political parties over-promise at election time, you might consider the range of incentives on offer to voters in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state, who elect a new legislative assembly next Monday.

In its manifesto, the All India Dravidian Progress Federation Party (AIDMK) of chief minister J Jayalalithaa has promised the state's 19.2 million voters free mobile phones if it is returned to power.

It has also offered laptops with unrestricted internet connectivity to school students, free traditional gold chains for brides, 100 units of free electricity for millions of households and a 50 per cent subsidy for working women to buy scooters and mopeds.

A doubling of financial support for pregnant women to €238 each completed the AIDMK’s freebie package for voters in the upcoming polls.

Low incomes

Ms Jayalalithaa (68), who is popularly known as “Amma” – or Mother in Tamil – appears to have bettered offers by the opposition Dravidian Progress Federation Party (DMK), which promises free tablets and laptop computers to 1.6 million school students, with high-speed internet connections and 10GB free downloads each month.

It is also offering those on very low incomes free or subsidised smart mobile phones.

Indian political parties are known to offer cash and other incentives to voters but this proclivity is particularly blatant in Tamil Nadu.

One of India’s most colourful politicians , Ms Jayalalithaa demands unquestioning fealty from party members and legislators, who prostrate themselves in her presence as a form of veneration. She once encouraged supporters to tattoo her form on their forearms or bellies.