The election campaign in Uttar Pradesh is incomplete without a helicopter descending onto a rally ground and the helicopter has been a star campaigner in the state. But this year due to the covid surge the EC has banned all the political rallies and gathering the 20-odd helicopters of about 10 charter operators booked by political parties over two months ago have but now it all has been grounded.
Uday Gelli, the western region president of the Rotary Wing Society of India said "There is a certain amount of disappointment among helicopter charter operators,"
"UP has a voracious appetite for helicopters. The beauty of UP elections is that they use helicopters even to travel small distances of 20 to 30km. The helicopter itself is a campaigner and it pulls more crowd than local leaders About 80% of the crowd mills around the helipad than the podium," said Mandar Bharde of charter company MAB Avlation Pvt Ltd.
"They ask pilots to do two-three rounds of low-flying over a village. A candidate landing in a helicopter exudes a certain power and peif, which voters in those parts of the country find agreeable in a leader. For the past three assembly elections, helicopter use began 60 days before D-Day," Bharde added.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India announced the voting dates for the Assembly polls of Uttar Pradesh. The UP will hold elections in 7 phases to elect 403 members of the Legislative Assembly in the state. The seven-phase election in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7.