With Gujarat Assembly Election 2022 around the corner, the key political parties — Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — have amped up their fight on social media to reach put to the voters.
An analysis of Facebook accounts and Twitter handles last week (November 21-27) of the three parties showed that the AAP was the most active in posting content related to the Gujarat elections compared to the BJP and the Congress. Even as the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP continues to eye victory in the upcoming MCD polls, the party hasn't fallen short of campaigning for the Gujarat elections.
AAP
The AAP has mostly shared Kejriwal's interviews and press conferences, the party's manifesto and pictures and videos of campaigning by candidates in the state. Hashtags like #Parivartan, #EkMokoKejriwalNe (One chance to Kejriwal)
The party's Twitter handle has 6.4 million followers, and its Facebook page has 5.5 million followers.
Every second post from the AAP's leading social media handles was related to the Gujarat elections. It promoted the party's campaigning and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's rallies from its main Twitter handle and Facebook page.
AAP's main social media handles shared 50 percent of its tweets and 52 percent of its Facebook posts on the Gujarat elections between November 21 and November 27.
On Sunday, more than 95 percent of content shared from the AAP's main Facebook and Twitter accounts was on the party's activities in Gujarat, an analysis by news agency PTI revealed.
BJP
The BJP also shared several interviews of many prominent leaders, campaign videos and pictures from rallies and roadshows. They consistently used hashtags in Gujarati. Not just that, they also posted content on Gujarati.
BJP's Twitter handle has 19.5 million followers, and its Facebook page has 16 million followers.
More than 40 percent of its tweets and above 35 percent of its Facebook posts shared between November 21 and November 27 were related to the party's campaigning in Gujarat.
CONGRESS
Congress party's Twitter handle has nine million followers, and its Facebook page has 6.3 million followers.
The party's main social media handles have focused more on promoting Rahul Gandhi’s 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' than the party’s campaigning for the two-phase assembly elections in Gujarat. But, for their election campaign, the party has been using #CongressForAdivasis
in a bid to woo tribal voters.
As many as 75 percent of the total posts were on the yatra, the analysis showed. According to the report, less than 20 percent of the posts were on the party’s campaigning in Gujarat elections.
Only 15 percent of the tweets posted by Congress' official Twitter handle during November 21-27 were on the Gujarat polls. Out of 280 tweets posted during these seven days, only 42 were related to the party's campaigns and party leaders' rallies in Gujarat.
The Gujarat Assembly election will be held in two phases — on December 1 and December 3. The results will be declare don December 8.
(With inputs from PTI)
