[PrideRed]

Its election time and social media, news channel are all abuzz with campaign from different parties. What got me interested other than the big fight is the campaign vehicles, some of them which I found really interesting. Campaigners are found using from humble Tata Ace to Range Rover(PM/CM's official car).

Some interesting vehicles.

A Karnataka candidate using what appears like a customized Toyota Commuter/Tata Winger.


Humble Dost


Landrover?


DMAX appears to be pretty popular


Please share photos of these interesting rides that you have come across. Also would be interested to know what happens to these customized cars post election duty? Are they even road legal?

[locusjag]

Here's something I read in The Hindu - https://www.thehindu.com/elections/l...le26657281.ece

The article is about an outstanding vehicle modification shop in Coimbatore, Koyas and Sons. This shop is so famous that even before i'd read this article, I had heard of it. My mechanic had mentioned it to me when I was enquiring about making seat modifications. It seems, almost all political leaders in TN use this shop's services.

Toilets, hydraulic lifts, TVs fitted into vans and cars

Come election time, some men and their machines become inseparable. Political leaders depend on their vehicles to undertake long and time-consuming journeys covering every nook and cranny of the State for their election campaign. Campaign vehicles play an important role in canvassing votes from the masses and so the vehicles are fitted with various amenities to make the political leaders, who spend time hitting the road, to have a comfortable journey.

While Chennai proudly claims to be the Detroit of the country, with multiple auto manufacturers, and one entire road engaged in selling all kinds of vehicle accessories at General Patters Road (G.P. Road), political leaders prefer to take their vehicles to Coimbatore to retrofit them with all necessities for a comfortable campaign journey. Here too, one company – Koyas and Sons – is the destination for many politicians to modify the campaign vehicles of political leaders for undertaking a whirlwind tour.

A gamut of political leaders, including Jayalalithaa, M. Karunanidhi, M.K. Stalin and others in the State, have been part of Koyas’ customer list. The standard campaign vehicles would be fitted with speakers, cordless mike and comfortable seats.

P.V. Mohammed Riaz, proprietor of the company, said their company has been the favourite for all the political leaders for customising not only election campaign vehicles but also personal vehicles, over the years.

He said the reason their automobile workshop had become the preferred destination was excellent quality of the upholstery, which are normally done in-house using state-of-the-art machinery, and also for executing any type of customisation. He remembers the customisation of hydraulic seat done for DMK leader M. Karunanidhi.

Mr. Riaz said vehicles of all types, such as Tata Sumo, Bolero and Isuzu, would be used by second-rung leaders for re-modification and for the party leaders of leading parties, Tempo Traveller is the most used vehicle.

However, while all the political leaders have been the customers of Koyas, T.T.V. Dhinakaran is the only leader who has customised his vehicle through some other company.

A party person close to Mr. Dhinakaran said the vehicle, which has been customised through a third party, had been fitted with a toilet, television set, a small bed and a sofa for having a small meeting. The highlight of the vehicle is that the stand has been fitted with a hydraulic lift for the AMMK leader to address the gathering through the sun roof.

[avisidhu]

Another indicator of what vehicles are used? A surge in stolen SUV's across all states, with Scorpio, Safari and Old Gen Pajero being the favorites

So all owners of SUV's, please be extra vigilant for another month. Unless you want to contribute towards campaigning activities of the strongmen in hinterlands of UP/Bihar!

A certain leader's usage of the humble WagonR as vehicle of choice was a shrewd move, possibly one of the very few instances where a campaign vehicle was symbolically leveraged.

[porsche_guy]

Like always, I have been seeing many Fortuners around nowadays with symbols of various parties as is the case with every election. There's an office of a party near to my residence where I have been seeing 2-3 Fortuners and a heavily modified Thar very frequently (talk about irony!).

The Thar has a fake LTD sticker!

Cheers!

[GTO]

Trivia = my open Jeep was used for election campaigning in Juhu with me driving it, as a close aunt was a politician.

Sharing some from the forum:


Thread (A custom Election Campaign vehicle)


Thread (H.D. Kumaraswamy's Poll Campaign Vehicle - A customised Toyota Commuter)


Thread (The Classic Commercial Vehicles (Bus, Trucks etc) Thread)


Thread (Sanjay Dutt gets a Rs 3-crore bus for poll campaign)

And a fun related thread - Dadagiri cars (India's Best 'Dada'giri cars)

[locusjag]

I found a picture of a jeep used in campaigning in Chennai on 'The Hindu' recently; it had a "Live to drive" Team-BHP sticker on it!

I've shared a snap of it over here - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ml#post4575710 (Team-BHP Stickers are here! Post sightings & pics of them on your car)

[anjan_c2007]

These two pictures are from February 2015 clicked at Delhi.

[Turbojc]

Spotted this 'mildly'-modified Datsun Go+ campaign vehicle in Chennai a couple of weeks back

[vshankarhere]

Interesting. Though I have seen many campaign vehicles like this before, now with the recent crackdown of "illegal" modifications on vehicles by Supreme Court, do these mods by the political leaders themselves stand valid? Does the RTO has the power to confiscate these vehicles and embarass the political hotshots campaigning in public? That would be something!