Chennai: Whenever the word election campaign is uttered, people usually relate it to big stages, hefty cutouts, banners, political leaders canvassing in decorated vehicles etc.
Eventhough all these will be present during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, another major aspect which will create an impact and influence the voters is the social media. Knowing how important this aspect is, political parties are focusing in strengthening and utilising their IT Wings effectively during the polls.
Anything that goes viral in the social media instantly grabs the attention of the people and they start talking about it. Almost all parties have a separate IT wings that have already started working on the poll works.
AIADMK A STEP AHEAD
Foreseeing the importance of social media, former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, it is said, set up the first IT wing for political parties in the country.
Even before the talks for the elections began, the AIADMK IT wing sprung into action. A campaign was launched to create an AIADMK Twitter army in June 2018.
Talking about the idea behind the formation of the ‘army’, AIADMK IT wing member said, “Our aim is not to involve in a fight with other parties but to make sure the various government schemes reach the public effectively. We will also reply with facts if there is any false propaganda against the party or the government. Our objective is to create a positive image.”
To avoid confusions, he said new users were enrolled only after proper background check.
“We do not want any miscreants to cause trouble after getting enrolled. Proper training has been given on how to react to trolls, false propaganda and criticisms,” he said.
He further said they have 50 WhatsApp groups of each party district through which the information is passed swiftly.
He also revealed that a strategy has been formed to face the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly by-elections.
Recently, a meeting of the IT wing members of the AIADMK was held during which the strategy was discussed.
DMK’s TACTICS
Meanwhile, the DMK is not left far behind. The party cadres are gearing up to ensure that they reach as many people as they can. It is said that the party is planning to rope in a private company for the digital canvassing works.
DMK’s alliance party MDMK too has a presence in the social media and it is said both the DMK and MDMK will work in tandem to ensure that their alliance has a upper hand in the social media canvassing.
BJP PLANS BIG
On Sunday, the BJP held a meeting of its social media ‘warriors’ in Chennai. At the meet attended by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, various strategies were devised for the Lok Sabha elections.
| EPS, OPS, Stalin active |
| Many Ministers including Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam are active in Twitter and keep sharing updates about their programmes and events. DMK leaders M K Stalin and Kanimozhi too are equally active in social media. |