IT, telecom firms offer candidates new digital solutions to woo voters

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:With hardly 18 days remaining for assembly elections, candidates and political parties have begun using digital platforms for the campaign. Though the digital campaign methods of bulk messaging and emails are common in elections in the past seven years in the state, the IT and telecom companies are coming up with new innovative solution for candidates and parties to woo voters. Many such companies have chipped in for the campaign as digital agencies after an agreement with the candidates of all parties. The Covid-19 pandemic and short period for campaigning are the key reasons for the candidates to use the digital media. 
Among the new ideas, the ‘voice poll survey’ has become a trend. 

Voice poll is nothing but a recorded voice call which asks the voter to participate in the poll at each constituency. The one-time poll to a voter asks him or her on which political party they would vote for. If the voter says a particular party, then that answer will be recorded and saved. So the candidate who seeks this service from the company could get an idea of voters’ minds and winning chances in that constituency. 

For example if a UDF candidate uses this service and  majority of voters in that constituency say that they would vote for LDF, then the UDF candidate will change his or her campaign strategy. “The voice poll survey is our brainchild. We have already done this for a candidate.

It is much effective and could easily get the voters’ mindset so that the candidates can work in the campaign accordingly. This is the first time we are using the voice poll in a digital campaign in Kerala and it is a first-of-its-kind in the country,” said Vineetha Beth, founder and Chief Operating Officer, VA Networks Ltd, Kochi. 

Dedicated call centres set up by telecom companies for calling the voters directly seeking votes for a particular candidate have also started functioning at various places. This is the first time that the digital agencies entrust special call centres for the digital campaign.  According to M S Sivasankar, an IT entrepreneur based in Thiruvananthapuram, digital platforms have a significant role this election in the wake of pandemic.  “Ever since the pandemic hit the state, people started relying heavily on digital platforms. It was evident in local body elections too. So this time, the IT companies are ensuring that the political parties make a digital presence to secure votes. Unlike elections of previous years, more IT companies are coming to the picture to get good business. This is a positive trend,” he said. 

The telecom entrepreneurs said the bulk SMS still have a good reach. “SMS marketing has higher open and engagement rates than email.  We live in a mobile-first world, and political text campaigns reach voters in real-time to drive rally attendance, ramp up campaign donations, and remind supporters to head to the polls,” said N Kiran Kumar, an entrepreneur.  

However, the new Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) rules put a spoke on the wheels of the smooth functioning of SMS campaigns. As per the new rules, it is mandatory for the companies to register in TRAI DLT ( Distributed Ledger Technology) platform for doing the cmap[aun.  Earlier bulk SMS providers were required to register with TRAI. With the updated rules, whoever wants to send promotional or transactional SMS to their customers needs to be DLT registered. The new rule stipulates the name of the candidate should not be sent to voters as messages.