Amid Covid, UP polls saw emergence of digital campaign

The Uttar Pradesh assembly polls 2022 saw emergence of virtual campaigning after the Election Commission of India (ECI) initially banned and later restricted physical rallies in view of the Covid pandemic situation. While political leaders remained top trends on Twitter and other social media platforms, “double engine” versus “Do Ladke, Lal Topi (red cap) don” by Samajwadi Party leaders to “Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon” by the Congress created a flutter among netizens.

Although the ECI’s move led to low-key campaigning in the initial couple of rounds, the virtual world was having all the excitement. For the first time in UP, leading politicians addressed rallies online and their supporters fought it out on the web.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took the lead in the online electioneering by organising maximum number of virtual rallies by its star campaigners ranging from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath to Union home minister Amit Shah to BJP president JP Nadda. “On an average, the BJP organised five rallies every day and ensured that campaigns were broadcast live across multiple social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Koo,” said a Lucknow-based political analyst Sunil Verma.

Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma said, “A majority of our party offices are digitally equipped with desktop internet facilities. We used it to perfection. Our virtual meetings were successful. We had an edge over other parties. We adhered to election commission guidelines and held virtual meetings in the initial phase of election.”

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While the BJP had a large presence in the digital domain, the party’s prime challengers — Samajwadi Party and the Congress — were not far behind. While the Samajwadi Party used the popularity of its leader Akhilesh Yadav to occupy digital space, the Congress banked on its general secretary and UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to catch the attention of netizens. Although Mayawati helmed the Bahujan Samaj Party’s virtual campaign, it fell behind the other three in occupying a major share of digital space.

The online sphere also became the battleground for supporters who used various social media tools to hit out at their rivals. To showcase that their leaders did not lack a funny bone, supporters of every party unleashed a series of cartoons and memes to poke fun at rivals. According to Twitter analysts, the UP campaign had its fair share of popular hashtags including #BJP4UP, #Ladki_hun_lad_sakti_hun, #Nahi_Chahiye_Bhajpa, #GobackModi, #UP_ka_kalesh_Akhilesh.