Each of the 11 lok Sabha candidates of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh will have individual Facebook profiles created by the party’s IT Cell to enable them to interact with the internet savvy voters across the State.
Apart from this, the party had also directed that every lok Sabha candidate would have a person from the IT Cell travelling with him during their poll campaigns. Party’s State IT Cell would shortly commence creating the facebook profiles of the candidates following a directive from the BJP’s National General Secretary (Organisation) Ramlal who had issued detailed guidelines on social media campaigns has already taken up by the party in Chhattisgarh.
The senior leaders at the central level are also keen on an aggressive online campaign push in the rural parts of the State considering the fact that the voters in urban areas are already deft in using social media tools.
The senior party leaders using ‘google hangout and audio bridge’ have had detailed discussions with the IT team in the State BJP headquarters to pace up the momentum of poll campaign on social media platforms, BJP State IT Cell Convenor Deepak Makshey informed. He said that the party’s website for Chhattisgarh unit is being re-designed and it would also have its facebook link available on the website.
The huge emphasis being paid on social media campaigns in the BJP in Chhattisgarh is the result of immense success of the poll campaigns during the Assembly polls when large number of youth users of social media logged on and had discussions regarding party’s poll prospects, party sources here informed.
The party had utilised its district level facebook pages during the Assembly polls to woo young voters. After the Assembly poll results were declared, Makshey told The Pioneer: "Right from the beginning of our poll campaigns on social media platforms and particularly facebook, the youth was all for Dr Raman Singh and work done by him in the State". He said.
The chats and posts on facebook were handled by a large team of youth within Chhattisgarh while support was also provided by IT professionals from outside the State in responding to the chats and posts, he stated . The maximum number of followers on social media for Dr Raman Singh was found in the urban areas and less in rural areas due to lower internet penetration in rural pockets, Makshey had stated.
It had been proven by the IT Team at the State BJP headquarters that social media has played a decisive role in generating positive and meaningful discussions on social media where large number of youth logged in to express their opinions during polls, he had stated. The IT team also took services of intellectuals for writing posts which helped generate a healthy debate on social media. The youth members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) also significantly helped the IT Team during the Assembly polls in involving youth in meaningful discussions, Makshey had remarked.