Web series vs music video: TMC\, BJP fight it out on social

Web series vs music video: TMC, BJP fight it out on social

Press Trust of India  |  Kolkata 

In a bid to reach out to voters, especially the young ones, the ruling TMC and the opposition in have extended their fight to the social media with innovative ideas and catchy jingles.

From coming out with to to campaigns, both the parties are looking at making optimal use of platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, besides traditional emails and

Attacking the and Narendra Modi, the TMC has launched a "Pradhan Mantri Hisab Do" (Prime Minister, answer this).

In this campaign, the party is releasing a short video everyday on and comparing the "failure" of and "success" of Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in in a particular field.

The TMC have also come out with a "Jumla meter" on its website showing whether or not claims made by the BJP especially on governance issues in West Bengal, are true.

"Both Pradhan Mantri Hisab Do and Jumla meter have become hugely popular among netizens. We have also taken steps so that each episode of Pradhan Mantri Hisab Do goes viral. We are trying reach out to our target audience - youths and first time voters," a senior TMC told

According to the Election Commission, has 20.1 lakh first time voters, the maximum among the states in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP, on the other hand, has made the music video of "Main Bhi Chowkidar" campaign viral on

page of the saffron party's West Bengal unit live streams all the public meetings of Modi and party

"We have a trained cadre base with presence down to the booth level to use the We also have a huge network of volunteers. We are highlighting the failures of the TMC government and the pro-people policies of the BJP," senior BJP said.

The TMC has trained over 40,000 youths on the use of social media under the stewardship of Abhishek Banerjee, the party's youth wing and nephew of

"We have one for each constituency and its job is to air speeches of our party candidates via Live. We also organise Facebook chats," Col (retd) Dipatanshu Chowdhury, who is a joint convenor of the TMC's Media cell, told

The party has also set up a team to monitor media content, fake and trolls from district level to booth level, said a member of the TMC's Social Media IT cell.

The party has also created more than 10,000 WhatsApp groups to spread its message to the people.

The BJP West Bengal unit has also set up a core team of around 100 professionals, who have revamped social media presence of the party in the state.

The BJP has also created WhatsApp groups at various levels to create public opinion on local issues, Basu said.

The top leaders of both the TMC and the BJP are regular users of social media.

Mamata Banerjee, TMC's Derek O' Brien and are quite active on and Facebook.

The has around 2.9 million followers on Facebook and 3.25 million followers on

Besides and Shah, Union minister who is BJP candidate from Asansol, is one of the most popular faces of the party on social media.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, April 08 2019. 13:55 IST