BJP, JDU, RJD Rev UP Social Media Campaigns in Bihar for 2024 Lok Sabha Polls

Social media has emerged as the cheapest and most effective way to reach out to voters in the elections. Rival parties are taking a plunge into the election campaigns with hundreds and thousands of their social media staff and activists. In Bihar, JDU, BJP and RJD prepare their social media armies to overtake each other in the current Lok Sabha elections.

BJP, JDU, RJD Rev UP Social Media Campaigns in Bihar

Published : Mar 18, 2024, 10:19 PM IST

Patna: All parties have started preparations for 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar with all parties including BJP, JDU and RJD using all strategies like social media to woo voters and take an upper hand. The respective parties are highlighting their leaders' image to pep up their campaign. Special social media campaigns are being run to showcase the leadership of leaders like PM Narendra Modi, CM Nitish Kumar and former deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav.

BJP has crores of followers on all its social media accounts and its Bihar unit has prepared a big team to take care of social media campaigns. In Bihar BJP office Patna, more than two and a half dozen people are busy highlighting the party programmes on social media. More than 1 lakh WhatsApp groups have been created. The team working in BJP Patna office keeps a close watch on the statements not only of the big leaders of the party but also of the leaders of the opposition parties.

Community groups have also been created in WhatsApp. Two thousand people are being added to every community group and teams have been formed at the area, zonal and booth level. A team of 21 people each has been formed in a district with 45 organizations. In more than 1000 divisions, an 11 member team has been formed at divisional level.

RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav is most active on all social sites. His team is on high alert. Being the main opposition party, a war room has been set up in the RJD office, but the biggest team is working at Tejashwi Yadav's official residence, 5 Deshratna Marg. The entire team is working under the supervision of Sanjay Yadav, who is close to Tejaswi Yadav and recently became Rajya Sabha MP. Not only Tejaswi Yadav but posts of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi are also posted from here.

Bihar's ruling party JDU is also not behind in campaigning on social sites. Nitish Kumar's nephew Manish is in charge of social media. According to Manish, more than 50 people are working on JDU's social media. Teams have been formed in all the districts from Patna to the block level. Leaders at every level of the party have been given the responsibility of publicizing the work of the government by creating WhatsApp group community groups.

"We are trying to reach people by giving interviews to those who are benefiting from the government's work. Work is already being done on social media at the party level. CM Nitish Kumar has prepared a big team of social media at the Chief Minister's residence," said Manish.

Political expert Ravi Upadhyay says that social media is the most accessible medium to reach people today, which is why all parties are using it on a large scale and it will be visible more in the campaign.

"Even before the implementation of the code of conduct, we had already done the organizational work on social media. Now the work is being done up to the booth level regarding campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections. A team of 31 people is working in the Patna office. 57 years of Congress vs Modi. We are trying to take the 10 years of BJP among the people," said Ranjan Gautam, Member, Social Media Team, BJP.

JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said that no one can deny the importance of social media and it is natural that we are also fully prepared. "Along with the work of the Bihar government, we will also convey the work of the Central government to the public," he said.

JDU's Facebook account has 6.7 lakh followers while X account has 2.6 lakh followers. Nitish Kumar's Facebook account has 20.9 lakh followers. Rashtriya Janata Dal's Facebook account has 11 lakh followers, X account has 10.6 lakh followers. Whereas Tejashwi Yadav's Facebook account has 26.7 lakh followers and X has 50 lakh followers. Lalu Yadav has 13.3 lakh followers on Facebook.

Bihar BJP's Facebook account has 7.4 lakh followers whereas BJP has 1.6 crore followers on Facebook in the entire country. BJP Bihar's X account has 6 lakh followers but BJP's X account in the entire country has 2.2 crore followers. Narendra Modi has 4.9 crore followers on Facebook account, 8.8 crore followers on Instagram, 96.3 lakh followers on X. Samrat Chaudhary's Facebook account has 6.5 lakh followers.

All parties are trying to convey their message through social media, from live telecast to videos. Old videos are also being used extensively on social media.