Jammu and Kashmir polls: Parties go on social media overdrive

SRINAGAR: In a quantum leap from previous elections when campaigning was largely restricted to hoardings, banners and rallies, political parties in Jammu and Kashmir are tapping social media in a big way to woo voters in the upcoming Assembly polls.
Since the announcement of the five-phase elections for the 87-member Assembly in J-K, the parties have embarked on vigorous campaigning and social media is one of the key battlegrounds to harness the digital tools.

The ruling National Conference (NC) is using social media in a big way for campaign purposes, with the party leaders being active on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.

The party, which launched its official Twitter account in 2012, has given a push to its campaign in cyberspace since last month, registering over 3,000 tweets.

NC has also decided to have a dedicated Youtube channel and is using Internet messaging application Whatsapp to garner support, especially among the youth.

"We are approaching the social media scientifically and our aim is to have a two-way communication with the youth of this state," said NC spokesman Junaid Mattu.

NC is working on a more robust strategy and has established a dedicated team for targeting voters through social networking sites.

"We want to reach out to the youth of the state and involve them in our programmes," said Mattu.

Political Secretary to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Tanveer Saddiq, said, "We will be reaching out to youth in their language and I believe today the youth in the city as well as rural areas are more glued to social networking sites."

Omar also believes that his "biggest shortcoming" has been that he could not sell whatever he did for the people in the past six years and lists the matter of Tosha Maidan as an example.

The meadow was with the Army on a lease which was extended by successive governments. The last of those extensions was given by the PDP-Congress government in 2004.

"It was not an ordinary decision to take back Tosha Maidan... They (PDP) forget that they were the ones who handed the meadow to Army for 10 years on lease and then kept mum," Omar said.

"But when I got it back, I didn't drum it up. Now, there will be no sound of bullets and there will be no army camps but hotels and restaurants in the meadow.

"This is what you mean by working silently," Omar said.

The main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) has also started its campaign on the social media and is integrating digital tactics as part of its poll strategy.

"Social media is a fact of the part of contemporary daily life which is driven by the youth. And we have to remain in touch with these voters," said PDP's chief spokesperson, Nayeem Akhthar.

Though the party joined Twitter in 2010, it has been active on the micro-blogging website only since the elections were announced. It has over 200 tweets with more than 1,500 followers.

Both NC and PDP are also maintaining their Facebook pages and have been actively posting pictures to keep the voters hooked to their activities and update them on their poll promises.

BJP, which has announced its 'Mission 44+' for the state, has posted over 100 photographs on its Facebook page, which was launched last year.

The party, riding on the popularity of Narendra Modi, has a twitter account as well with 3,100 tweets and 719 followers.

Congress is lagging behind when it comes to the social media presence. Though the party has a Facebook page as well as a Twitter account, it has apparently not been able to maintain or update it actively.

The first phase of polling scheduled on November 25 will cover 15 Assembly seats -- three in Baramulla, two in Srinagar, four in Ladakh and six in Udhampur.

Nine seats each in the Kashmir and Jammu regions will be going to polls in the second phase on December 2. Of these, maximum of six are in Udhampur, five in Baramulla, four in Anantnag and three in Jammu.

The third phase, for which polling will be held on December 9, will cover the remaining seven Assembly segments under the Baramulla Parliamentary constituency, five seats in Budgam in central Kashmir and four in Anantnag.

The fourth phase, for which polling is scheduled on December 14, will cover the nine prestigious Assembly seats in Srinagar city, the remaining seven seats of Anantnag and two of the Jammu parliamentary seat.

Five seats of Udhampur Parliamentary seat and 15 in Jammu area, covering the nine Assembly seats of Jammu city, will go to polls in the final phase on December 20.

The counting of votes will take place on December 23. The six-year term of the current Jammu and Kashmir Assembly ends on January 19.

In the last Assembly elections held over seven phases in 2008, the state had witnessed a good voter turnout of 61 per cent even though the exercise took place in winter. A total of 1,354 candidates, among them 517 Independents, were in the fray then.