Gujarat tour operators make polls a tourist attraction!

Ahmedabad: You may not believe it but it is true. The Gujarat Association of Tour Operators (Gato) has come up with a unique plan to offer election tourism to foreign tourists on the poll dates of 13 and 17 December. “Most of our members are looking forward to conducting such tours. The assembly elections in Gujarat will be a good start. It has all the colour, noise, controversies, and drama,” a report in the Times of India quoted Gato chairman Manish Sharma as saying .[caption id=“attachment_508943” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A tourist attraction? Reuters[/caption] Tourists from the UK, Ukraine, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Canada, New Zealand and Australia will be targeted at first. The idea is to provide a taste of India’s largest democratic exercise and to introduce small nuances of the poll process to the visitors, Sharma told Times of India . However, the final call remains with the Election Commission, whose permission Gato has sought to move ahead.