With barely ten days remaining for the polling day in Punjab, the rain showers did not dampen the spirits of candidates, engaged in hectic campaigning to woo the voters for the ensuing Assembly polls in the State.
While many candidates were seen holding an umbrella during electioneering on Wednesday, the social media platform, which are being extensively used for information dissemination to woo the voters, continued to play a key role in election campaigning.
As rainfall lashed several parts of Punjab on Wednesday and predication of heavy rainfall on Thursday as well, the social media teams of all political parties including Congress, AAP, SAD and BJP have geared up to reach out to the voters in case of cancellation of party programmes, rallies and other events due to weather conditions.
Moderate rainfall was recorded in Amritsar, ludhiana, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur on Wednesday while the rainfall activity is likely to intensify on Thursday in most parts of Punjab, as per the Met Department.
“The social media team of Congress is supporting the regular electioneering on a daily basis but in case, rainfall hamper election programmes of the party, the IPAC has geared up to reach out to the voters in next 24 hours with Facebook live sessions of key party leaders. The links of Facebook sessions are sent to about 2000 WhatsApp groups created upto the booth level in Punjab,” said Paroma Bhatt, a member of Congress strategist Prashant Kishor's IPAC (Indian political action committee) while talking to The Pioneer
Bhatt said, “The IPAC is focusing on utilizing Facebook and smartphone application, WhatsApp to get in touch with the voters in the state. According to our database, 35 lakh youth in Punjab are Facebook users while more than 50 lakh are using WhatsApp. So, the focus is to connect with these voters through SMS, audio messages by party Punjab chief Capt. Amarinder Singh, Facebook live sessions and WhatsApp groups.”
With youth (18-39 age group) comprising of more than 52 percent voters in Punjab, all political parties are making all out efforts to attract the young voters. Paroma Bhatt added, “Besides party’s Facebook page and Capt. Amarinder’s Facebook page, we have created district wise pages to spread information related to party candidates.”
With Punjab witnessing a triangular electoral contest between Congress, AAP and SAD-BJP combine, the politicians have braced up for the tougher battle of ballot this time and are toiling hard to coast to victory.
On one hand, the candidates in the fray are busy conducting public meetings, roadshows, padyatras and door to door campaigns, the social media teams of political parties are also making efforts to disseminate information through various social networking websites and mobile application in the hard-fought electoral contest.
Right from day-to-day happenings to the information on rallies, public meetings, manifesto among others, everything is made available on the Facebook and Twitter pages of political parties. Their Facebook and Twitter pages also presents scathing posts against opposition, sarcastic illustrations, infographics and caricatures.
The SAD and BJP have separate social media centres to connect with the young voters.
“Though we have been reaching out to the voters through social media on a daily basis but during rainy days, the social media cell has to become more active for information dissemination,” said Chandigarh BJP’s convener of IT Cell Deepak Malhotra, who is looking after IT campaign in Rajpura constituency.
He said, “Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was scheduled to address rallies in Punjab on Wednesday. As there was a prediction of rainfall, the party social media cell had already braced up to circulate the videos, pictures related to the rallies.”
“In case of change of schedule or cancellation of party events due to bad weather, campaigning through social media continues. We are sending lakhs of SMS, audio messages, pictures related to BJP’s achievements to the voters. We have created separate Facebook pages for all BJP candidates and Whatsapp groups in various constituencies,” he said.
Besides a nodal social media centre at Chandigarh, the BJP has formed social media cells at 23 constituencies it is contesting in the elections.
AAP, which is seen as a major challenge to traditional players-- SAD and Congress --in Punjab, also has a full-fledged social media team to take their campaign to the people.
The party has created separate Facebook and Twitter accounts for party candidates besides creating WhatsApp groups in constituencies to get in touch with the followers. AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s audio message in Punjabi is also being disseminated to connect with the voters.
As far as popularity on social media is concerned, AAP’s Facebook page has 8.72 lakh likes while the party has 33,500 followers on its main handle on Twitter. AAP is followed by the ruling SAD, which has 5.4 lakh likes on its Facebook page and 69000 Twitter followers. The Congress has 2.97 lakh likes on its Punjab Facebook page and 11,8 00 followers on Twitter.