Political parties in India are appealing the voters especially first-time voters as the Lok Sabha elections are around the corner. The Election Commission announced the dates for the Lok Sabha elections yesterday. Lok Sabha election begins on April 11 and continues till May 19. The counting day will be on May 23.
Million Minds, a leading organization helping the startup ecosystem and students, has initiated The Better Change. It is an initiative for one of the largest events in the country – General Elections 2019, inviting First Time voters to pledge to vote. The campaign eyes to reach milennials across Indian campuses within the age group of 17 – 24 years. Not only that, it is shaping the future of the nation with a blend of fun. There are 140 milennials in urban India and Million Minds is aiming to reach to 38 million first time voters.
In the digital age, social media has become the tool which plays a decisive role in the upcoming elections. It will be a game changer. And, it is expected that more than 10 crore first-time voters will exercise the voting power in the 2019 election. All the political parties are eyeing to influence these 10 crore first-time voters. Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter have become the popular medium in India to influence the voters.
According to psephologists of the Indian political system, this time the social media likes Facebook and Twitter could play a major role influencing voters especially new voters (first-time voters). Facebook users are 72% of which 82 % of them are within the age group of 18-29. And, the internet and smartphone penetration in India has helped the political parties to reach their voters through digital platforms and social media sites.
Political parties BJP and Congress have been using Facebook and Twitter to influence the voters and interacting with address their issues. Among other political leaders, Prime Ministers, Narendra Modi has been very active on digital platforms. Besides social media, Modi has many followers on Radio and listen to his show ‘Mann Ki Baat.’ Modi is engaged with his audience on all the platforms.
It is believed that the digital media had overtaken the mainstream media during the last Lok Sabha election in 2014. It is noteworthy that the mainstream media in India has been using Social Media sites to reach their target audience. It influenced voters and helped the political parties to spread their message to their audience. Besides BJP, according to media reports, the parties like AAP, TMC was adopted digital media during their respective state assembly elections and the result went in their favor. As per indiaonlinepages site 2014, 50% of the population is below the age group of 25 and 65 % are below the age group of 35. For the 2014 General elections, every political party participating set 2-5% of its electorate budget for spending on social media.
According to statista.com, as of January 2018 the highest number of male Facebook users during the measured period were between 18 and 24 years old and amounted to about 73.8 million. Among females, the highest number of users was the same age group, amounting to about 23.4 million. India claimed the first place with 300 million users, ahead of second-ranked United States with 210 million Facebook users.
Between February 7 and March 2, Facebook pages of BJP members and ministers and propaganda pages run directly by the party spent over Rs 1.5 crore on ads.
The days are gone when the political parties used three major issues: Roti (food), Kapda (cloths) aur Makan (House) during the elections. Of late, in this digital age, information is everywhere and it is very important that the voters are aware of their issues.
The first time voters have been using social media sites like Facebook. This is win-win situation for both – political parties and voters. On one hand, political parties have been spending a huge amount on social media to attract and influence first-time voters as their percentage could be decisive for the political parties.
The impact is clear; the advertisement on social media will not go waste. These ads will have a direct impact on the first time voters and these campaigns are managed by digital marketing experts and psephologists. The budget of advertising on social media will decide the impact on the first time voters.