Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates contesting Wednesday's civic polls in this desert district are facing a strange problem.

"Dharmendra Lao, Vote Ley Jao" (Bring Dharmendra, Take Away Votes) is the slogan voters here have coined in response to BJP candidates' appeals for votes.

Reason: Bollywood star Dharmendra, whom the same voters sent to parliament as a BJP member in the April-May polls, has hardly been seen in his constituency since.

"Dharmendra is a real hero - very good at vanishing acts," said Ramesh Vyas, a shop owner. "We want our hero to now appear before us and ask us to vote for his party."

His fellow Bikaneris echo his demand.

"We want our parliamentarian to visit us regularly. We don't want him to sit in Mumbai and do nothing for us", said D.R. Chaudhary.

And Ashok Pandey said, "Whenever a BJP candidate visit us, we ask him to produce Dharmendra before us. In return, we promise him our vote."

This isn't the first time that people are demanding their star parliamentarian to visit them.

Some months ago, they had even placed an advertisement in the "missing persons" section of a newspaper with Dharmendra's picture.

It had a magical effect, with Bollywood's "He Man" rushing to placate his supporters and offering a series of sops.

But he has gone and people are again unhappy.

"What am I supposed to do?" said one BJP candidate, who did not want to be named. "I do not have enough clout to bring Dharmendra here on my calling."

Bikaner goes to the polls along with eight other municipal councils, three municipal corporations and 33 municipalities in Rajasthan.

A total of 1,450 ward council seats are up for grabs, including 70 in the Jaipur Municipal Corporation and 60 each in Jodhpur and Kota.

Besides Bikaner, the other municipal councils are Sriganganagar, Sikar, Alwar, Bharatpur, Tonk, Beawar, Udaipur and Pali.