Social media popularity counts to candidates in getting party tickets

Having a large number of followers on Facebook or Twitter may help a political leader in getting tickets in the coming assembly elections in Karnataka as both the BJP and the Congress have started scanning the social media accounts of their leaders.

The BJP, which has been very aggressive in using tech tools to reach out to voters, is closely watching its leaders' social media activities in Karnataka.

“The party is monitoring how many followers each leader including ministers and MLAs have on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, what they have been posting on it, how many times they popularise both state and central government schemes and counter opposition parties allegations against the BJP ruled state,” said a BJP leader in Delhi.

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“Having popularity in social media will also add an advantage in getting tickets. The BJP has already started scanning its leaders' social media accounts. Through social media, we can gauge the popularity of the leader,” he said.

Indeed, recently when Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with BJP MPs from Delhi, he did mention the social media activities of the party. Many MPs were even surprised when the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) staff handed over a document to each MP which contained an assessment report of their social media accounts.

The PM, who also held BJP MPs meetings in different states in recent days, also suggested they use social media and popularise central engorgement achievements including the speedy rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, evacuation of students from Ukraine, distribution of free rations to poor and BJP's victory in recently held assembly polls.

Congress is also using social media tools to monitor its leaders. “We are closely monitoring social media accounts of leaders in poll-bound states," Nitin Agarwal, National Co-ordinator for Social Media Cell in Congress.

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"We will also analyse their followers base, how much they mentioned about the welfare schemes rolled out by the UPA government or earlier Congress governments at Centre, how much they exposed BJP in burning issues including price hike, handling of Covid-19 pandemic, communal polarisation," he said.

How much Whatsapp group ticket seekers created to directly connect with workers and the public will also count, he said.

Once the election calendar of events is announced, the party will prepare a report based on ticket seekers' social media accounts, he said.

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