LS polls: Twitter lights up with 45.6 million posts

Twitter virtually broke the internet riding on the Lok Sabha elections, belting out a whopping 45.6 million tweets in a month before India kicked off the world's largest democratic exercise on Thursday.

Conversations centred around the polls made the loudest noise as #LokSabhaElections2019 stormed the virtual space. As the first phase polls began for 91 seats in 18 states and two Union Territories, Twitter reflected the heat on the ground.

Of the 45.6 million tweets on the polls recorded from March 11 to April 11, as many as 1.2 million tweets were recorded on election day. Throughout the campaign period, politicians and political parties have been using Twitter to communicate with citizens all over the country, the social platform maintained.

Campaigns, manifestos and announcements around policies and key social issues have accounted for some of the top-tweeted moments as voters got ready to go to polls. "Besides politicians and parties, citizens have been using the platform to address their queries directly to contesting leaders," observed a Twitter India spokesperson.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) emerged as the most mentioned figure during the first phase. BJP president Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were also among the top mentioned leaders.

Indians in India and across the world engaged in dynamic conversations around the elections with relevant hashtags, replies and retweets. "In the past month leading up to the elections, national security has emerged as the most talked about election-related topic on Twitter." Tweets were also centered around jobs, religion, agriculture and taxes.

To encourage healthy democratic participation, Twitter India launched a new video in the #PowerOf18 series. The objective was clear: To encourage young Indians to participate in the civic discourse, understand the significance of their right to vote.