Lok Sabha elections 2024: From WhatsApp to social media influencers; here's how parties are wooing voters
PTI. The election commission yesterday announced that the Lok Sabha elections 2024 polls will take place in seven phases beginning from April 19 and concluding on June 1. Votes will be counted on June 4.
The BJP is trying to engage with the voters by sending them a personalised 'Letter from the Prime Minister' on WhatsApp — which has over 500 million active users monthly in India — highlighting the achievements of the Narendra Modi government and seeking feedback from voters. The party launched the website 'My First Vote For Modi,' which allows visitors to pledge to vote for Modi and submit a video stating the reason behind their choice. The website also hosts several short videos highlighting the development work done under the NDA government.
On the other hand, the Congress runs a Rahul Gandhi WhatsApp group in which the leader is said to interact with people and respond to their queries. The circulation of WhatsApp information is monitored at the district level to ensure it reaches the masses and corrects the party's voter base. "Whichever political party has higher WhatsApp groups under its banner can communicate faster and better with the voters.
It helps them to highlight their achievements instantly with a large user base and influence the voters by drawing parallels with the opposition," Amitabh Tiwari, an election analyst and commentator, said. According to Tiwari, Facebook, once the most preferred platform for social media campaigning, has seen a downslide due to many restrictions on advertisements on political pages. Facebook boasts 366.9 million users according to Statistica, a data-gathering and visualisation platform.
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