With just two weeks to go, Mayoral candidates, Deputy Mayoral contestants and ward councilor aspirants have initiated their campaigning to lure the voters. In an attempt to attract eligible voters who will decide the fate of top contenders contesting civic poll-2018, promotional activities on social media have gained impetus becoming a vital tool to establish direct communication with the electorates.
Strategies like creation of a separate Information Technology (IT) Cell for managing municipal poll related activities through dispersing minute to minute information about candidates’ activities covering their achievements to updating public about their upcoming events to creating separate Facebook pages, Whatsapp groups, twitter accounts, attempts are being made to spread the popularity of candidates on social media by all major political parties.
For the first time, the UlB election will be held on party basis to elect Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Taking the promotional activities beyond conventional medium like conducting Sabhas and Chauppals, door to door promotion, rallies, road shows, the candidates are utilizing the social media to know the mood of public while promoting their respective party’s agendas.
The ruling party recently formed a special IT Cell managed by youths to promote the activities of their candidates. “We are using both conventional as well as new medium i.e..Whatsapp, Facebook to connect with the voters.
Every voter has the right to know about the projects accomplished by our party and our future course of action. In the era of Information Communication Technology (ICT), use of social media can play an important role in convincing the voters specially youths,” said, Former Mayor, Asha lakra, the face of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
Similarly, All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) has a well established IT setup which is extensively being used for campaigning giving wide coverage to contestants.
With BJP and AJSU using social media to the full length to capture public attention, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has engaged its young brigades for posting the promotional activities of their top contestants on popular social networking sites.
“Working president, Hemant Soren’s official Facebook ID is being used to gather public opinion through FB poll. Whatsapp groups have been created. Audios and videos in regional languages are being circulated on social media defining our plan of action. However, no special team or experts have been hired or else IT Cell like other political parties have been established,” said, JMM representative, Tanuj Khatri who is handling the responsibility of posting promotional activities of his party’s candidates on different social networking sites.
In the recent time, promotion on social media has amplified as the upcoming municipal poll-2018 scheduled on April 16 is being considered as the major game-changer and an eye opener for lok Sabha election-2019 for all political parties.
Indian National Congress (INC) as well is efficiently utilizing the reach of social media to convey its agendas among masses. Congress Spokesperson, Rajiv Ranjan, said, “District-wise FB pages have been created highlighting the local issues. Candidates are active on Whatsapp and Twitter, updating about their campaigning activities. Under the guidance of Rajesh Sinha, our social media cell is functioning well to popularize all contestants by regularly posting the details of their promotional events.”
Along with Congress, BJP, JMM and AJSU, Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (JVM) is aptly using facebook, micro-blogging site- Twitter and freeware whatsapp messenger to connect with the voters.