Instagram-worthy: Pune’s candidates crack the code of modern campaigning

Boats are being rowed through the Parvati area, where campaign workers unfurl banners and chant slogans, while simultaneously triggering concerns from environmentalists who question the environmental footprint of such aquatic campaigning. But the images and videos go viral, and that’s the hook. There are the bike rallies orchestrated by candidates. The NCP employs mini trucks equipped with huge cardboard-made rotating clocks that convey, “kaam karat aaloy, kaam karat rahu.” (I have always been working, and will continue working).

In a salon, a beautician is seen doing nail art depicting Eknath Shinde’s face etched across her customer’s fingernails. Observed near the Deccan area, a man draped entirely in BJP’s saffron stands at traffic signals. He moves around between the vehicles during red lights, establishing himself as a living billboard.

A humble street dog has become a political mascot where a BJP’s campaigning banner hangs around its neck as it trots through neighbourhoods. (Express photo)

A humble street dog has become a political mascot where a BJP’s campaigning banner hangs around its neck as it trots through neighbourhoods. Some candidates have leaned on what they possess that money and technology cannot buy: legacy. Families rooted in the political arena for three generations campaign, conveying: We are not newcomers, we are continuity.

The campaigns for the 2026 Pune municipal elections have evolved into a louder, more creative framework, realising that to reach voters, campaigns must be omnipresent, shape-shifting, and continually surprising.

(The author is an intern with The Indian Express)