KOCHI: It's now certain that in the ensuing local body polls, political parties are going to devote more time for election campaign through social media. Youth wings of all major political parties have already been directed to create WhatsApp groups in each ward in panchayats and corporations to reach out to maximum number of voters in the coming days.
With mobile internet access surging in Kerala with the proliferation of smartphones and cheap data, political parties are betting high on social media mainly Facebook and WhatsApp for the campaigns. "We have already devised means to step up campaigns through social media for the UDF candidates. Both local issues and major political issues will be the topics for the campaigns. Compared to last elections, more time and energy will be spent on devising social media campaigns in this local body polls," said KSU state president KM Abhijith.
As per a report of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Kerala ranks second in internet penetration after Delhi. The state’s internet penetration rate is the second highest in the country (54 per cent) while Delhi NCR has 69 per cent penetration. The report states that Kerala is one among the three states which have the highest proportion of female internet users.
The LDF led by CPM has already exhorted its cadre to take up massive social media campaign in all wards in the state to sensitise people on the government’s achievements and counter the campaigns by the Opposition parties.
"This time we are targeting a vast audience. We don't engage any private agencies for the social media campaigns. It’s our comrades who have been assigned with different tasks for the social media campaign. We have decided to form groups in each region to form WhatsApp groups and add new users in it for the campaigns," said CPM's Dr V Sivadasan, who is coordinating the activities of the party's social media and IT cell. NDA led by BJP too has devised massive social media campaign for local body polls.
Among all social media platforms, WhatsApp is the choice for political parties due to its massive reach. A social media expert said the advantage of WhatsApp is that despite users having no idea on the origin of the messages which they receive, majority of the people trust it as it comes from a contact in their list.
Considering the pandemic situation prevailing in the state, the state election commission has come out with a guideline directing political parties to maximum use social media for election campaign.