Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :
Parliamentary election to constitute the 16th Lok Sabha, electing members of parliament to all 543 parliamentary constituencies of India held in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014. This was the longest election in the country’s history. According to the Election Commission of India, ‘814.5 million people were eligible to vote, with an increase of 100 million voters since the last general election in 2009, making this the largest-ever election in the world. Around 23.1 million or 2.7% of the total eligible voters were aged 18-19 years. A total of 8,251 candidates contested for the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The average election turnout over all nine phases was around 66.38%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections.’
The results were declared on 16 May, fifteen days before the 15th Lok Sabha completed its constitutional mandate on 31 May 2014. ‘The counting exercise was held at 989 counting centres. The National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, won a sweeping victory, taking 336 seats. The BJP itself won 282 seats, the first time since Rajiv Gandhi’s landslide victory in 1984 that an Indian party has won enough seats to govern without the support of other parties. The United Progressive Alliance, led by the Indian National Congress, won 59 seats, 44 of which were won by the Congress. BJP leader Narendra Modi was thus poised to take office at the helm of the largest majority government since 1984. It was also the second-worst defeat of a sitting government in independent India.’
The role of social media in Indian parliamentary election was admittedly. In fact the hall mark of election campaigning was social media. Important issues during the campaign included rising prices, corruption, the economy, security, and infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water. ‘In a survey by Zee News for about 14% of people, corruption was the main issue in the election’.
Some media campaign highlighted ‘India’s slowing economy amidst a record high current account deficit and a falling rupee in summer 2013. There was a striking reference to a lack of infrastructure investment and a government increasingly likely to give subsidies the national finances cannot afford just before the election. Other points media campaign mentioned were stagnant policymaking and an inefficient bureaucracy. The economy was the main issue in the campaign. Modi brought up the issue of farmer suicides that resulted from high debt and poor yield on their crops. Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha criticised the incumbent Chidambaram in saying that he had a “habit that he will get a strong economy, and he will ruin it before he leaves… Shri Chidambaram will be remembered in history as a spoiler, as someone who specialises in sub-five per cent growth rate, for his hubris, arrogance”.The campaign indicated that ‘ the price of onions, a staple in Indian cuisine, faced a dramatic increase. In the lead up to the election, consumer price inflation increased more than expected while, paradoxically, industrial production fell by more than expected causing a dilemma amid slowing growth. The price of salt was also indicative of general food inflation. Other issues highlighted included Telenguna in Andhra pradesh, decreasing economic growth and staggering food crisis and poverty.
With great power and unmatched reach of the kind provided by the social media comes great opportunity, one which Indian politicians and parties were increasingly embracing.
Along with door-to-door and mass-contact canvassing, the battle lines are being drawn in the world of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs and apps for the coming assembly polls, the curtain raiser to the Lok Sabha elections, due in 2014.
In a just ended parliamentary polls in India Social media was in in use on a large to mould voters’ opinion. Many a newspaper reported political starts were on twitter for political mobilization going all out to influence the voters. Staunch advocates of Norendra modi, Shashi Tharoor, Kejriwal, Rahul etc. They were not letting go of traditional means to win votes, but wanted to be trailing online. Along with door-to-door and mass-contact canvassing, the election battle lines were drawn in the Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs and apps for the parliamentary polls, 2014. How influential an individual was across social media networks may be shown below in Klout:
Klout score
Narendra Modi, 89,
Shashi Tharoor, 85,
Kejriwal 77,
Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan, 70,
Raman Singh 70.
According to news paper reports on social media use ‘Modi and Tharoor were two big politicians on social media . Any ranking of social media influence was of course dynamic. The number changes with the number of flowers or likes. Shivraj Singh Chouhan was out to use smartphone influencing voters through the ‘Shiv Raj’ app .The AAP too has downloadable apps for streaming in data (photographs/videos/FB updates/Twitter posts) and a web-based channel. The Delhi units of the BJP and the Congress too are on the money online. The Congress, however, is not on Twitter. The Delhi unit has a website and plans to upload photographs on Flicker soon.
The online fight in Rajasthan was heating up as well. Videos of rallies of chief minister Ashok Gehlot and BJP state president Vasundhara Raje are up on all social media sites. Gehlot, apart from being active on Twitter and Facebook, has launched a blog to interact directly with people. Raje is reaching out to voters through a web portal and mobile app for her ongoing Suraj Sankalp Yatra. In Chhattisgarh, the ruling BJP has identified seven urban areas it believes where social media can play a key role.’
On the contrary most of the state’s Congress leaders were on Facebook, only a few accounts showed signs of activity. Congress leaders claim the social media would not be a big game-changer in Chhattisgarh. All parties except were aggressive online. .
In fact Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption reaching its peak, taught the Congress the importance of the new world order dictated by the social media. ‘India’s grand old party already had its share of enthusiastic Twitterati, notably Shashi Tharoor, but lacked an institution-based approach’. The All India Congress Committee membership renewal forms began seeking Twitter and FB account details, workshops were held on more effective use of e-tools and ministries opened social media accounts. What’s more, P Chidambaram used a Google chat session to explain the General Budget. But strangely, the party’s top leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul , are yet to be personally available on social media. ‘The BJP, however, has been enterprising on this count. Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj tweet frequently, while LK Advani muses in his popular blog.’
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Professor, Department of Public Administration, Chittagong University)
