BANGALORE: It’s seldom that elections to the Press Club of Bangalore (PCB) - the abode of journalists - has hit headlines. Newspapers generally devote one paragraph, listing the names of office-bearers and committee members, the day after the results are declared. Anything beyond this, should be seen as an ‘extra-effort’ by an insider. Well, this piece, however, is written ahead of the polls and hence, no eye-brows, should go up or down.Innovation and new-age campaign modes are definitely not the sole copyright of politicians any more. Bangalore journalists are fast-catching up with out-of-the-box-ideas. If this doesn’t make news, then here’s one question. When did you last see a campaign material, be it a poster or a pamphlet printed in eight different languages? All on one page!Well, this could be one idea that the netas in Namma Bengaluru could emulate next time when they hit a campaign trail.Triggering this piece was a campaign email from a seasoned freelance photojournalist and a candidate, which landed in the in-box. If you can’t read English, then there’s a Kannada version and if not Kannada, then Telugu, then Malayalam, Tamil, Urdu, Hindi and in all close to 10 languages!“I wanted to ensure that it touched the hearts of every voter who hail from different parts of the country. Hence, I hired professional translators from different languages to print my campaign card,” says Venkatesh, who captured the imagination of voters with his mulch-lingual e-card. Will his idea work? “I thought just being different might help,” he says.The innovation doesn’t stop here. With the club elections slated for Sunday, the poll scene is hotting up with SMSs (endless) different aspirants, emails, phone calls, letters, personal visits hovering around a prospective voter.
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