State political parties take to social media to woo voters

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: As the state is all set for the upcoming single-phase Assembly election on May 10, politicians in Karnataka have resorted to taking up social media campaigns in full swing. While the use of such campaigns resulted in a 4 per cent voter turnout in the last election, the state, IT hub, is in the headlines again. Social media pages of the BJP, Congress and JD(S) have turned into a space to attack each other more in the digital space in line with the election.

Earlier in January 2023, the BJP shared a video clip of the former Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah performing a folk dance and a morphed image of the time former congress president Sonia Gandhi on WhatsApp. However, now, almost all three major parties have resorted to social media campaigns vigorously.

In Karnataka, the BJP has more followers on Twitter and Facebook than its rival Congress. BJP has 46 lakh followers on Twitter and 98 lakh followers on Facebook, while 48 lakh people Congress on Facebook and 24 lakhs on Twitter. With the availability of these, these social media pages have reportedly been said to share contents that raise voters’ eyebrows.

Congress, on Instagram, has more followers than BJP and has turned the page with photos and videos accusing the BJP of corruption, inflation, attack on democracy, and suppression of people’s voices. On the other hand, BJP’s Instagram page is filled with videos and photos of the Ayushman scheme and the video of the Home Minister Amit Shah speaking about the achievement in nine years under the BJP rule.

Both Congress and BJP put up a tight battle on Twitter as well, as both the party’s social media handles share content accusing each other and Congress specifically targeted the BJP over the Sathanur incident, saying the law and order have touched a new low in the state under BJP rule. In common, both parties fight and accuse each other over Lingayat and reservation issues.