From veterans to first-timers\, Delhi candidates seek to harness maximum out of social media

From veterans to first-timers, Delhi candidates seek to harness maximum out of social media

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi 

From highlighting poll manifesto to attacking opponents, is being used widely by candidates from all three major political parties in the fray in election as much as to achieve greater connect with voters.

The BJP, and the AAP, all three major parties are going all-out on the with polling round the corner on May 12.

From veteran to new entrants like and Vijender Singh, almost everyone in the reckoning is trying to harness maximum political advantage out of the digital platform.

Olympian pugilist Vijender, who is making his political debut with this election, has been fielded by from South up against sitting MP and AAP's Raghav Chadha.

Congress held an impressive roadshow for Singh on Wednesday evening which was streamed live on his official account.

He also shared pictures of the crowd taking selfies with Gandhi or himself, seeking to appeal to the youth voters, who are likely to play a crucial role in the polls.

On his and accounts, the 33-year-old from the cradle of Indian boxing -- Bhiwani in Haryana, also regularly puts up videos and pictures to broaden engagement with voters online, often using tagline 'Haath ka sath', reference to his party symbol - hand.

Cricketer-turned-politician Gambhir fighting polls from East on a ticket also shares videos and photos regularly to keep a connect with voters, more so the youth who consume a lot of on through

On his social media account, Gambhir had earlier shared a report in which he had told a national daily that he had joined to "go beyond tweeting".

A poster shared recently on his account, carries his image and the message -- "Not here for picnic. Will show how work is done".

Both debutant politicians share their canvassing schedule on Facebook and seeking maximum traction out of the medium.

Vijender Singh, who still uses an image of him in his sporting avatar as a Facebook profile picture, has said that, "sports has taught me to fight, and I am here to win this fight".

Candidates are also using social media to highlight achievements of their respective parties as much as to hit out at opponents for maximum electoral gain.

AAP's Atishi contesting from East Delhi has shared accomplishments of the government in Delhi in the education sector as well as images of star Swara Bhaskar, who is rooting for the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

Raghav had also shared images of campaigning for him in South Delhi by riding a motorcycle.

Seen in a turban with folded hands, in his Twitter avatar, Chadha in a tweet on Thursday said, "Anticipating the BJP's low politics, we have set up surveillance teams of top volunteers. Armed with cams, mobile apps & the grit to ensure free & fair elections, they're keeping a close eye on the BJP's nefarious activities. We're watching your every move, you watch the law."

Senior Congress and candidate and sitting MP have also sought to leverage maximum traction out of social media.

"My voters have made me victorious in three out of four re-elections from the same constituency! Reason is Simple-I never lose touch and am easily accessible for development works!," he tweeted recently while sharing a video of a meeting with people in a locality.

Bhoojpuri and BJP's sitting North East MP has also to engage effectively with netizens as the polling date draws near.

As many as 164 candidates are in the fray in Delhi, where the polls is largely being seen as a triangular contest among the AAP, and the Congress.

Of the over 1.43 crore voters in Delhi, 78,73,022 are male and 64,42,762 female, while 669 belong to the third gender. The number of overseas electors stands at 40 while count of service voters is 11,005.

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

First Published: Thu, May 09 2019. 14:16 IST