At a time when other political parties are emphasising on the role of social media to further their electoral prospects, the election strategy of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttarakhand is still centered on old methods of campaign. The workers of the BSP are worried by the near absence of their party on social media forums and want that the party should come out of its traditional mould and take advantage of the cyber world.

It is an open fact that the BSP chief Mayawati has refrained from setting up of media cells in the States and the party has a highly centralised system of working. In sharp contrast to the BSP other political parties are banking heavily on social media. The social media wings of both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress are working round the clock on the social media platforms like Facebook, Whats app and Twitter which are flooded with their activities.

The social media is one of the priority areas of all the political parties and all parties have special cells for this purpose. The social media also played a major role in building the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is an army of supporters of Modi on social media who are hyper active in support of their leader.

On the other hand the cyber workers of Congress are making their presence felt on social media sites portraying “failures” of Modi Government and “achievements” of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

The cyber workers of these parties fighting pitched battles on social media platforms has become routine. Apart from these parties other parties like Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) are also very actively using the social media. Supporters of independent candidates like Anoop Nautiyal from Dehradun Cantt also keep posting videos and messages of Nautiyal on social media sites.

In the midst of all these activities the total absence of third biggest political party, the BSP is baffling the party supporters. Political observers are of the opinion that since the traditional supporters of BSP are still away from the cyber world the party is not focusing on the social media yet.

The state vice president of the party Rajesh Pal said that "Behenji doesn’t want any confusion, misunderstanding or hurting of sentiments so the party is not relying much on these methods". He averred that BSP is a highly disciplined cadre based party so it relies on the old trusted methods of campaigning like door to door meetings, street plays and one to one approach of canvassing.

The party workers however are worried about BSP’s absence in social media and strongly believe that party should change with the changing times. In hushed tones some of them even express resentment towards their leader Mayawati’s policy of keeping a distance from media.