Campaign for LS polls on social media: Candidates banking on reels & memes

Tajdar H. Zaidi

Lucknow: There was a time when banner/poster and public meetings were main tools  to create awareness among the voters during elections’ campaign. At that time, candidates of all political parties had no options except banner/poster or public meeting to spread awareness among the voters. But now the time has changed, and in this era of digital technology, candidates are using social media or influencers as the medium to promote electoral literacy. Now, reels, social media and artificial intelligence (AI) have great impact on the voters. Candidates are using reels and memes to influence voters. Candidates of all political parties in this Lok Sabha elections have hired social media agencies and influencers to promote their image during the elections and for this purpose they are spending lots of money.

The modus operandi is that agencies working on social media are making emotional songs and reels in favour of a particular candidate and charging fee to push the materials on various social media platforms. In this Lok Sabha elections, most of the candidates focusing on video content that is more power to spread the message. Video content creaters are more in demand among the candidates of all political parties.