SHILLONG, Nov 10: The fight for the 2023 Assembly polls has gone online with the keyboard warriors of various political parties using social media platforms as their battleground.
If the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) has been providing the digital ammunition for the Trinamool Congress, a team of data specialists is firing for the National People’s Party. The regional parties are not far behind.
The MLAs have also roped in social media teams for individual publicity. So have ticket aspirants.
The TMC appears to leading in the social media game with relentless attacks on the MDA government and projecting itself as the change Meghalaya needs. The party’s witty memes criticising the government – Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong and Sports Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh in particular – have often gone viral.
Social media-savvy Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma has been very active on social media, vlogging about his inspection visits or party meetings apart from providing government-related information.
Tynsong dismissed the attacks by the TMC through social media. He said a candidate’s connection with the people, especially the villagers, matters more than the digital outreach.
“Many poor people cannot afford mobile phones and even if they can, the network is bad. So, 75-80% of the election process has to be manual,” he said, underlining the futility of going overboard on social media.
He said members of his party are not losing sleep over the online or offline attacks by the opposition as these are expected ahead of any election. He added that the TMC has launched a publicity blitzkrieg because of its compulsion as a new party to advertise.
It’s raining freebies in Meghalaya
Now while the social media teams of various political parties are busy with their online campaigns, the politicians – some sitting and some aspiring – have been “blessing” the potential voters with freebies as part of their efforts to woo voters.
The MLAs of the urban constituencies of Shillong have begun distributing freebies – from sewing machines, gardening kits, utensils to clothes. Most of the MLAs are also issuing work orders for locality-based projects like construction of drains, footpaths, roads and water tanks.
Recently, one of the politicians had announced that he would sponsor free coaching and tutorial classes for students of Class X form his constituency.
As the date of election is yet to be announced and as such, there is no model code of conduct, the politicians appear to be making every attempt to warn up to their voters.
Recently, a complaint was lodged with the Election Commission of India (ECI) against a minister for distributing money to the voters of a constituency he is planning to contest from. Later, he said he was only trying to help some people who needed money to buy farm equipment, school uniform and medicines.
The aspiring candidates are not wasting any opportunity to be among people. They are attending various programmes, including religious ones and cleanliness drives. The Secretariat wore a deserted look as most of the lawmakers are spending their time in their constituencies. They are not speaking much in public about elections or anything.
An MLA said this is a crucial time and it is obvious the politicians would not like to comment on anything that could hamper their poll prospects.
The MLA said the “real game” would begin after Christmas or New Year when the election schedule would be announced.
