In a week, posts just from the BJP Gujarat’s official Twitter handle spiked by 72%, with 112 posts at the rate of one post per 12 minutes coming on Sunday alone. That day, the BJP uploaded 36 videos including the speeches of PM Narendra Modi on its Facebook page.
Other political parties are also upping their social media game. The Congress’ weekly posts went up by 40% and the AAP’s by 50% compared to last week. Campaigning has entered the last stage with barely few days to go before the first phase of election on December 1. The parties are using all the three major social media platforms - Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram - to woo the young and tech-savvy voters.
An analysis indicates that a majority of local political leaders retweeted the posts of national leaders or of their parties’ official handles. On Twitter, the BJP concentrated on providing statistics of the works done over the years, the Congress made allegations of corruption and focused on inflation, while the AAP spoke of the necessity for change.
Both the Congress and the BJP slammed the AAP when a video of Satyendar Jain surfaced recently. The video shows Jain purportedly getting special treatment in Delhi’s Tihar jail. But the Congress and the AAP have attacked the BJP with allegations of corruption.
The parties also used examples of other states such as Punjab and Rajasthan to either deride other governments or to promise similar schemes if elected to power.
“The social media content has matured considerably compared to the 2017 election. Parties’ IT cells vigilantly monitor rivals’ campaigns and are quick to issue counter-arguments or rebuttals,” said an Ahmedabad-based social media analyst. “The BJP has a star campaigner in PM Narendra Modi and most of the posts over the past few days have featured him. The Congress’s Rahul Gandhi forayed into campaigning for the state election on Monday. ”
The analyst added: “Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has been consistent in tweeting about his campaigns in Gujarat and appealing to the locals to give a chance to the party. ”
