Parties bank on social media to woo voters

Unlike elections in the past in Kashmir, political parties besides holding rallies and door to door campaigns are relying heavily on social media platforms to woo the voters.

For the first time, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), National Conference (NC), People’s Conference and Bharatiya Janata Party have dedicated social media teams to target the youth and showcase their achievement to people. Even the candidates are active on social media sites.

Post abrogation of Article 370, the parties believe voting percentage will go up in the Valley particularly in the urban pockets. Earlier, the turnout in towns usually used to be low. Besides young voters, many people will be voting for the first time owing to ‘boycott politics’, the parties claim.

PDP spokesman and a former journalist Tahir Sayeed said they were using innovative methods to reach people. “We are working on various strategies so that our messages will reach out to more and more people in J&K especially in Kashmir. We are using all the mediums of social media and our campaign has been really successful.”

Former CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti who has around four lakh followers on ‘X’ is using the platform to reach out the younger generation; so does her 34-year-old daughter and advisor Iltija, who too is active on social media.

NC, which has constituted a big social media team, is also focusing on the younger generation. “We have a robust social media team that extends its reach to districts and constituencies. We are trying our best to reach out to the youngsters. Our party is cadre-based, utilising both old and new methods, and it’s working well,” NC chief spokesman Tanvir Sadiq said.

Ahead of elections, the party, which is one of the largest regional parties, revamped its social media team and included young men and women in the team. The former chief minister Omar Abdullah has over three million followers on X and he too uses social media to highlight the achievements of his party-- National Conference.

People’s Conference media savvy young spokesman Adnan Ashraf is always busy on social media messages stressing that their social media team may be small but their volunteers play a crucial role in utilising various platforms to amplify our party’s message. “We actively engage with voters through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp, ensuring our messages reach a wide audience. Recognising the power of visual content, we have transitioned from traditional forms to more engaging video content, making it easier for viewers to consume and share our message,” he said.

The presence of Congress, which has a very strong social media team across the country, is feeble in Kashmir. “Since we aren’t contesting from Kashmir our teams aren’t so strong and we usually rely on our national teams,” said a senior Congress leader. BJP, which isn’t contesting from any of three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir, too has vibrant IT teams in J&K but their influence is restricted to Jammu only. In Kashmir they aren’t so active now as the party has decided to leave three seats for its allies.