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Social media popularity may up chances of poll ticket seekers

Huge following on social media accounts may prove a ticket to candidacy in the upcoming Assembly elections for Karnataka’s political leaders
Last Updated 02 May 2022, 02:22 IST

Huge following on social media accounts may prove a ticket to candidacy in the upcoming Assembly elections for Karnataka’s political leaders.

For, the BJP and the Congress are monitoring the digital footprints of the wannabe candidates and this could be considered as a barometer of their popularity among their
constituents.

The BJP, which has been very aggressive in using tech tools to reach out to voters, is closely watching its leaders’ social media activities in Karnataka.

“The party is monitoring how many followers its leaders, including ministers and MLAs, have on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, what they have been posting on it, how many times they popularise the state and central government schemes and how they counter charges made by the Opposition against the BJP-ruled state,” said a party leader in Delhi.

“Popularity on social media is an added advantage in getting tickets. Through this, we can gauge the leader’s popularity,” he said.

Recently, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with BJP MPs from Delhi, he did mention about the party’s social media activities.

Many MPs were surprised when the staff of the prime minister’s office handed over a document to each MP - an assessment report of their social media accounts.

The PM, who also held meetings of party MPs from different states, suggested that they leverage social media to popularise the achievements of the central government like speedy rollout of Covid-19 vaccine, evacuation of students from Ukraine, distribution of free rations to the poor and the BJP’s victory in the recent Assembly polls.

The Congress is also using social media tools to monitor its leaders.

“We are closely monitoring social media accounts of leaders in poll-bound states,” said Nitin Agarwal, national co-ordinator of the Congress’ social media cell.

“We will analyse their social media follower base, how much they advertised among the people about the welfare schemes rolled out by the UPA government or earlier Congress governments at the Centre, how much they exposed BJP on burning issues like price hike, handling of Covid-19 pandemic and communal polarisation,” he said.

The number of WhatsApp groups that ticket seekers created to directly connect with party workers and the public will also count, he said.

Once the election calendar of events is announced, the party will prepare reports of the ticket aspirants’ social media accounts, he added.

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(Published 01 May 2022, 17:12 IST)

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