To win elections these days, intense campaigning is mandatory and gone are those days when candidates tour each and every house seeking the blessing of voters. Now, various political parties have turned to technology for a successful campaign as social media definitely provides a leading edge. The power of social media in the political sphere is evident from the fact that it propelled the career of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to become the Prime Minister of India. Following the successful campaign by the BJP, almost all political parties formed their own social media and IT cells. It is unbelievable that almost all political parties in India, whether big or small, do have their presence on social media.
It is known that the BJP has mastered the art of social media when it comes to turning political tides more in its favour than any other political party. Now it can be said that the BJP managed to win Dubbaka because of its smart social media campaign which left the voters impressed. Even their digital campaign was strategized very effectively as BJP candidate Raghunandan Rao enjoys a massive presence on Facebook with 3.14 lakh followers and 2.31 lakh people liking his page. This is huge when compared to rival candidates from the Congress and TRS.
Failure of TRS in this aspect
The BJP’s core strength is that it dealt with the allegations made by rivals with an iron fist. Especially, the mistakes of TRS candidate Solipeta Sujatha and the allegations made against her son were used as ammunition by the BJP in the Dubbaka campaign. In addition, the BJP also targeted the TRS candidate by making videos which went viral amongst voters. Also, the issue of unaccounted cash being seized from BJP candidate Raghunandan Rao’s relative’s residence actually benefited the latter, as the saffron party cadre were quick to shift the blame on the police. The TRS failed miserably in handling the issue from there on.
Apart from the above-mentioned reasons, a video of Congress candidate Srinivas Reddy switching sides to the TRS too went viral on social media. But by the time the Congress and TRS gave an explanation saying that the BJP had resorted to making false claims, the damage was already done. Also, a viral video of Telangana CM KCR praising PM Narendra Modi too benefited the BJP.
