: This year’s elections were more environmentally friendly. No candidate or party displayed plastic buntings or flags and candidates were less likely to put up hoardings, kiosks, or billboards without permission from the chief electoral officer.
LMC (Lucknownow Municipal Corporation) didn’t receive any complaints about noise pollution during this campaign. LMC used in the past to recover between 30-40 truckloads poll material after the polling closed. However, this year the situation was different.
The LMC didn’t have to run a special drive for cleaning the city after polling day. Ajay Dwivedi, municipal commissioner, stated that the Lucknow assembly polls were more environmentally friendly because of the model code of conduct for all political parties.
The display of banners or posters on private property without permission was not reported. LMC officials were also alert for hoardings and ads that were placed at the expense or the public exchequer of any political party or independent candidate.
The MC used to work hard in the past to protect the city from environmental hazards due to excessive plastic use in the poll campaigning materials. Placards, plastic buntings, hoardings, posters, illegal hoardings, and hoardings were removed after the polls. But this time, Dwivedi said that less poll-related material had been cleaned. LMC has also launched an anti-pollution campaign in all 110 wards of the capital with 85 tractor-mounted water spraying equipment, 440 cycle mounted machines, and nine massive anti-smog guns.
LMC had already warned contestants against doing anything that could lead to environmental problems in the area.
According to Dr SK Rawat, Nagar Swasthya Adhikari, the amount of filth that was recovered from the city was about 30% less than the one in the last elections. He said that this shows that people are more aware about the environment and should be commended for following the rules.
