Congress, BJP woo voters in Karnataka with social media
MANGALURU: Social media platforms and messaging apps like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp as well as social media influencers are emerging as the go-to campaign tools for the Congress and BJP, the main contenders in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Dakshina Kannada. Both the parties are aggressively wooing voters through social media by hiring IT professionals and setting up dedicated war rooms.
Sujith, who works closely with BJP candidate Capt Brijesh Chowta, said it is easy to make any content like memes, voice messages and videos go viral and reach out to people.
“We sent out a personalised ‘Letter from PM’ on WhatsApp and also launched a website where short videos are shared and visitors can pledge to vote for the party. We have also converted his profile to audio format so that it is appealing to people. New voters are active on Instagram and we are sharing content on our candidate there too. WhatsApp also helps us communicate faster,” said Sujith.
Sanjith, an IT professional who is part of Congress candidate Padmaraj’s campaign team, said they are following some of the campaign strategies used abroad. “We are a core team of eight IT professionals and educationists working for Padmaraj. We studied the election campaigns in America and replicated this here,” he said.
