New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) The Election Commission was keen on using a song from the film “Rock On!” to inspire Delhiites to cast their votes but it proved to be an expensive proposition. So it has now opted for the song “Dance pe chance mar le” from the Shah Rukh Khan starrer “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi”.
“The tune from the film ‘Rock On’ cost almost Rs.25 lakh (Rs.2.5 million). This was not feasible for us. So we decided to go ahead with another tune from the equally popular movie ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’,” Delhi chief electoral officer Satbir Silas Bedi told IANS.

“This is actually the Pappu Part Two campaign. During the Delhi assembly elections, we noticed a quantum jump in the poll percentage. The song “Pappu can’t vote” touched a chord amongst the masses and as compared to the dismal 43 percent voting percentage in the last MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) elections, the turn out jumped to 60 percent,” she added.

The new song is a modified version of the successful tune. Instead of the original lyrics, the song will now go as “Pappu vote dal le”.

“We have decided to stick to the Pappu campaign since people are already familiar with it. We will try and reach as many people as possible through radio FM stations, TV, cinema halls and newspapers until May 7, when Delhi goes to polls,” Bedi said.

The “Pappu can’t vote” campaign was a spin-off from the song “Pappu can’t dance saala” from the film “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na”.

Playing with the lyrics, the latest jingle urges people to realise their responsibility and get up early on the day of the election, like they were going for a morning walk, and cast their vote.

“It is a simple, catchy tune with humour ingrained. We don’t want to put off people, especially youngsters, using preachy messages,” Bedi said.

As per the earlier plan, the song “Socha nahin to socho abhi” was supposed to be used by the election commission.