Rajasthan assembly polls: Cong, BJP go hyperlocal with social media thrust
Going beyond highlighting public issues and achievements, the Congress and the BJP are working on hyperlocal mode in Rajasthan with extensive use of social media to fight assembly elections scheduled later this year
Going beyond highlighting public issues and achievements, the Congress and the BJP are working on hyperlocal mode in Rajasthan with extensive use of social media to fight assembly elections scheduled later this year.
The Congress plans to incorporate hyperlocal issues -- focusing on matters concerning a small geographical area -- in the party manifesto and aggressively use social media platforms to boost electoral prospects.
“We are expanding our IT cell network, which was earlier more limited to the state and district levels. Now the IT cell will have its wings at every assembly constituency and block,” a Congress leader, involved in preparing electoral strategies, said on condition of anonymity.
He said the focus would be to expose the BJP’s failures through a publicity blitzkrieg. “We will adopt the strategy that proved successful in Gujarat and Karnataka. In coming two-three weeks, social media platforms will be used aggressively,” he said.
“The party plans to appoint a coordinator at every assembly constituency and block level. Rajasthan has 200 assembly constituencies and the Congress has divided each seat into two blocks.”
The Congress’s central party leadership will soon hold a meeting of AICC IT cell experts and state leaders to chalk out plans for social media campaign.
The state BJP IT cell has already deployed social media teams at state, district, mandal, shakti kendra and booth levels.
“A member has been appointed at each booth. Each Shakti Kendra, which comprises 6-10 booths, has IT members. IT teams are in place to spread party’s achievements and schemes,” said a senior BJP leader working with the party’s IT department.
The BJP central leadership has started work on establishing a parallel control room for social media activities in Jaipur, which will be functional soon.
In terms of followers on social media platforms, such as Facebook, the BJP is ahead of the Congress in Rajasthan. The BJP has 4,67,302 followers, and Congress has 4,07,237.
