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Hurrah! A social media party!

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Verdict 2017

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This spring, various political parties went on social media with all guns blazing canvassing respective vote banks as well as undecided electors. While some parties like the AAP and the BJP had a strong and clearly-defined social media strategy, others, like BSP, were late jumping onto the bandwagon. However, all conducted a significant part of their campaign on social media.

Of the 121 crore (1.25 billion) Indians, 83.3 crore live in rural areas while 37.7 crore stay in urban areas. India’s literacy rate is 74.04%. India has over a billion smartphone users; of them, close to 30% own mobile phones. However, as of 2010, an estimated 200 to 300 million people in India (15 to 20 percent of the total population) lack electricity—to even charge those phone batteries. Under such circumstances, how impactful is a social media campaign? Actually, plenty, as the 2014 general election results and even some earlier assembly poll outcomes show.

But how effective have they been this time? How much of this ballot outcome was the result of a battle fought by various parties online? The figures speak for themselves.

Meanwhile, here’s a look at the online electoral campaigns of various political parties. 

BJP

The social media campaign by BJP in the run-up of assembly elections in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa seems to have reaped rich dividends for the party. The campaign was handled by Amit Malviya.

The party conducted their social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter which managed to strike a chord with the followers. The Facebook handle of BJP which goes by the name by BJP4UP managed to garner over 20 lakh followers. The same handle by the name of BJP4UP in Twitter had 41,000 followers.

The Facebook account for the BJP in UP focussed on the achievements of the party in the last three years—especially in rooting out black money by launching the digital revolution in the wake of demonetisation.

Samajwadi Party

Twitter account: @samajwadiparty

589,000 followers

FB account: Samajwadi Party

1,775, 518 likes

The electoral campaign of the Samajwadi Party was designed by Harvard professor professor Steve Jarding. In an interview to APN, he had said a few days ago: “I am very impressed with Akhilesh. I have worked with him, travelled with him in the countryside…and think he can do whatever he wants. He is extremely talented. I am impressed with his wife. I am impressed with the way they have handled things, I am impressed with his vision which he did not waiver from. With his drive and passion for the people of India, his future is very bright.”

But it seems that the political strategist doesn’t have hand on the pulse of the electorate, or of social media needs.

It was a deadpan social media strategy. The staid posts on its Twitter and FB account are a reflection of the limbo that the party found itself in due to family strife. On the social media account of SP, all you get are pictures and videos of the various rallies that Akhilesh Yadav conducted. In this age of Twitter, when you have to grip reader’s attention in 140 characters, who has the time to go through the tedium of watching the whole video unless you it’s accompanied with some catchy phrases!

The tagline “Kaam bolta hai”, both on the masthead as well as in various tweets, didn’t help either. If only, it inspired quite a few jokes.

Saurabh Chauhan: Bhaiya agar kaam bolta toh mare hue saap ko Gale mai daal Kar ghumna nahi padta

(If work really speaks for itself, one wouldn’t have to go around with that albatross around the neck). The reference was in all likelihood to Rahul Gandhi.

4Bharat Jai: यही कारण है कि उत्तर प्रदेश के लोगों को अन्य राज्यों में रोजगार के लिए भीख मांगने के लिए जाना है, उत्तर प्रदेश के लोग उत्तर प्रदेश में रोजगार देने के लिए अखिलेश यादव से पूछना चाहिए- अखिलेश यादव ने 2012 से राज्य में सत्तारूढ़ है

(Which is why people from UP have to beg for work in other states. Akhilesh is in power since 2012. People from UP should demand work in UP)

But some were optimistic. Here’s a sample:

Mohammed Muzaffaruddeen: Akhileshji and Rahulji don’t believe these idiotic Exit polls. Advance congrats. Your parties will give a fitting defeat to these communal parties. Electronic media almost all channels will cut a sorry figure ultimately.

Pavanjot Singh Gandhi: Recently had the opportunity to drive through UP and that too after sunset left Delhi at 6.30 pm and drove to Patna Saheb on 3rd Jan 2017 lovely roads safe driving had enjoyed my drive driving all night passing Agra Kanpur alllabhad very safe driving well maintained roads

The website, though, is a far more informative platform and lists the SP achievements on the development and education front far more succinctly.

BSP

The Bahujan Samajwadi Party, led by Mayawati Prabhu Das, has a handsome number of followers on Twitter. With 15.7K followers, their Twitter handle is maintained by Afzal Siddiqui. Afzal was picked as the young Muslim face of Bahujan Samajwadi party and has been an active campaigner throughout the election session. The Twitter handle of the party was, however, created only recently—in March 2016. As in offline campaign, the party stuck to the strategy of wooing Muslim voters who might have gone to the SP or Congress camp. The Twitter trail repeatedly urged the Muslim voters of the area to remember the atrocities against them during the tenure of the SP government. At other times, they talked about voting in an inclusive government. The exit polls were not a favorite topic in the Twitter space. There are numerous posts questioning the efficacy of exit polls and reminding everybody of their shortcomings in the Bihar and Tamil Nadu elections.

AAP

Name of person handling the social media strategy: Ankit Lal

Name of accounts

@AamAadmiParty

Aam Aadmi Party (FB)

No. of followers on each

@AamAadmiParty 3.06 million

Aam Aadmi Party (FB) 3.01 million

Aam Aadmi Party-Punjab (FB) 9.6 lakh

Slogans:

Punjab: Kejriwal, Kejriwal, sara Punjab tere naal

Goa: Iss baar chalegi zhaadu

Social media strategy/campaign methodology

Campaign strategy was different for different states. For instance, Punjab has a lot of 4G connectivity; however, it is Goa which has more urban and social media-savvy voters. Again, Punjabis are more active on WhatsApp while Goans like to use Facebook more often. We focused on regional languages. We ran our campaigns in Konkani and Marathi in Goa, and in Punjabi in Punjab, with only a little bit of Hindi and English used in between. In Goa, we depended heavily on local volunteers.

Responses

The response has been “phenomenal”. No one among our rivals was even near to us in social media presence. I personally ran the campaign from Arvind’s page. Every day or two, we would post live videos. They got as many as 7-8,000 shares each and had a reach of 15 million viewers.

A well-wisher comments on Facebook: “It needs smartness, wisdom and the courage to sow the seeds of revolution but it needs a better sense of understanding, experience, responsibility and maturity to stick to the ideals and nourish the revolution to its successful conclusions. I do hope that under the able leadership of a leader like Mr Kejriwal, people will be able to succeed. I pray for it.” It possibly sums up what many supporters have been feeling, especially since the party came to power in Delhi.

Prediction of outcome at this stage

“I would go with 85% in Punjab and double digits in Goa.” ~ Ankit Lal

Congress

The social media campaign by the Congress in the run-up of the assembly elections in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab largely centred on enumerating the ill-effects of demonetization. Rahul Gandhi became the popular face on the social media campaign whereby most of the social media handles on Twitter and Facebook carried his speeches targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies.

Compiled by Meha Mathur, Sucheta Dasgupta, Puneet Mishra, Usha Rani Das and Amitava Sen

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Dera chief of Uttarakhand’s Nanakmatta Sahib Gurdwara shot dead within premises

Baba Tarsem Singh was hurried to a hospital in Khatima where he died during treatment.

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Dera chief of the Nanakmatta Sahib Gurudwara in Uttarakhand was shot dead within the premises of the shrine by two bike-borne assailants on Thursday. A CCTV footage showed the brutal killing of the dera chief of the Nanakmatta Sahib Gurdwara.

The footage shared by news agency PTI shows the dera chief sitting on a chair at around 6:30 am in the premises when two bike-borne assailants arrived and fired at him. Udham Singh Nagar, SSP, Manju Nath asserted that Baba Tarsem Singh was hurried to a hospital in Khatima where he died during treatment.

Notably, the Nanakmatta Sahib Gurdwara is a revered Sikh shrine situated on the Rudrapur-Tanakpur route in Udham Singh Nagar district of the state. Reportedly, the Uttarakhand Police has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the chilling murder. 

Furthermore, additional police personnel have been deployed in the Nanakmatta area of Udham Singh Nagar district to ensure peace. The police have also appealed to the Sikh community to maintain peace. The Police officials have also contacted central agencies to share useful input, and a massive search operation is underway to nab the culprits.

Uttarakhand Director General of Police (DGP) Abhinav Kumar said that they received information around 7 am on Thursday that between 6:15-6:30 am, two masked assailants entered Nanakmatta Gurdwara and shot Kar Seva Pramukh Baba Tarsem Singh. He added that the Dera chief was rushed to the hospital in Khatima, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The DGP mentioned that this is a very serious matter and that senior officials have reached the spot. He affirmed that DIG Kumaon will inspect the scene of the crime and speak to the locals. Furthermore, he will try to assess the situation there. Abhinav Kumar also mentioned that for investigation of the incident, Police Headquarters has formed an SIT, which will comprise officials of STF and local Police.

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India News

US reiterates its call for fair, transparent, legal process for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, speaks on Congress frozen accounts

The US spokesperson said that they are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections.

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A day after India summoned an US diplomat over their remarks on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, the US reiterated its call for fair, transparent, timely legal processes on Wednesday.

Responding to questions on India summoning Gloria Berbena, the US Acting Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that they will continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Notably, the meeting at the foreign ministry’s South Block office lasted nearly 40 minutes yesterday with India objecting strongly to the US remarks on the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal.

Matthew Miller also responded to a question on the Congress party’s frozen bank accounts. The US spokesperson said that they are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. He added that the US encourages fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of the issues.

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested last week by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection to the Delhi liquor policy scam. Earlier, AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Sanjay Singh were arrested in the same case.

The External Affairs Ministry had earlier stated that states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others, and this responsibility is even more so in case of fellow democracies, adding that it could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents.

The Ministry further emphasized that India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. It mentioned that casting aspersions on India’s legal procedure is unwarranted.

The United State’s remarks followed days after Germany’s Foreign Office stressed that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is entitled to a fair and impartial trial. The Indian government labelled their remark as blatant interference in internal matters.

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India News

Punjab: AAP leaders Sushil Kumar Rinku, MLA Sheetal Angural join BJP

Rinku said Aam Aadmi Party lagged behind in Jalandhar on the issue of its development. He said they had not fulfilled the promises which they had made during the byelection as the AAP government did not support him. He said he was impressed by the style of working of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

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The Aam Aadmi Party had a double setback in Punjab as its lone Lok Sabha MP, Sushil Kumar Rinku from Jalandhar, and Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural joined the BJP in Delhi on Wednesday. BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde welcomed them in presence of Punjab BJP chief Sunil Kumar Jakhar and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Rinku said Aam Aadmi Party lagged behind in Jalandhar on the issue of its development. He said they had not fulfilled the promises which they had made during the byelection as the AAP government did not support him. He said he was impressed by the style of working of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He added that whatever works related to Jalandhar he took to Delhi were granted and the Adampur airport was made operational.

Rinku said Jalandhar had been given a stop for the Vande Bharat train. He said the people of Jalandhar need over bridges in the city and in Adampur. He said he was seeing a ray of hope by joining BJP. He said he is conducting a new experiment. He said he did not have greed for himself but he had wishes for the people of Jalandhar.

The Aam Aadmi Party came to know about the joining of Rinku to BJP when he suddenly disappeared from the AAP’s election campaign after he was named the candidate. He was among the first 8 candidates announced by the Aam Aadmi Party.

 Sheetal Angural became a first time MLA in 2022. He is going to hand over his resignation from the assembly on Thursday. With his resignation, the Jalandhar (west) seat will go into elections. Angural defeated Rinku in 2022 Assembly elections when the latter was in Congress. Earlier on Tuesday BJP had poached Congress MP from Ludhiana, Ravneet Bittu.

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