Go online or, go home

Political parties like BJP, JD (S) and Congress are putting efforts into making their online presence felt to engage a larger audience.

Indian political parties use a new strategy to ensure the youth’s support during the upcoming general elections.

Political parties like Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Janta Dal (Secular) and Congress are putting efforts into making their online presence felt to engage a larger audience.

Lavanya Ballal, Social media head of the Congress Mahila wing, said, “Yes, for this year’s elections, social media campaigning is very important for us. It will help us propagate our party’s plans and also we are looking forward to attracting the younger generation through this”.

An ASSOCHAM report says, the total spending of all parties was about Rs. 400- 500 crore during the last general elections. And as this year, more innovative strategies and technologies will be implemented, the spending is expected to go up by 20 per cent.

The US has had two successful presidential elections with most of the campaigning done online. The same way, parties in India say they will use social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube for the campaign.

Shri Tejaswi Soorya, the general secretary of BJP Yuva Morcha, said, “This govt. has taken special efforts to connect with people making democracy far more participative. This coming election, the role of social media and engagement of citizens using that platform is going to be all the more important”.

Now, the real question is whether the youth would actually be affected by the online party campaigning which would reflect on the voting pattern.

Vishvendra Singh, a student, said, “Rallying and old campaigning ways are something that does not appeal very much. So, going online is a good move”.

Political Analyst, Abdul Fazal said, “It would be effective only if the political parties use the platform in a responsible manner and don’t put up fake promises”.

Prathamesh Bhat, a student, said, “If online campaigns are done in the proper way, where the party’s strategies are given in detail or it shows the goodwill of the party, only then it would actually affect the voters”.