UP Election 2022: Digital Dangal - How BJP is the 'virtual' winner

Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections will be held under the Covid cloud With restrictions on rallies and meetings, virtual and digital campaigns will truly be a reality this election season.

UP's digital dangal: Advantage BJP?
And no points for guessing that the BJP has a clear edge when it comes to using technology to its advantage.

Here's a low down on the tech arsenal BJP has already deployed in battleground UP:

WhatsUP, BJP: 1 lakh targeted WhatsApp groups

BJP's big focus is WhatsApp. The party has created over one lakh groups to mobilise voters at the booth level.

Training session for 9,000 BJP social media warriors

Reports quoting BJP leaders, have said that the party has already conducted at least 85 meetings and workshops for over 9,000 of its social media functionaries

It is now planning to intensify content dissemination digitally.

Over 100 FB pages dedicated to different districts

Over 100 Facebook pages have been dedicated to outreach in different districts.

BJP WhatsApp groups for specific castes

The party has also created WhatsApp groups specific to OBC communities such as kurmis, koeris, kashyaps, bunkars, gurjars and others that it wants to mobilise in its favour.

Booth workers connect directly with voters

Booth level party leaders have been trained to be in touch with the voters allotted to them, especially the beneficiaries of various schemes related to housing, gas connections, toilets, tap water and electricity.

Workers have also been trained on live streaming of speeches by top leaders

Training sessions have been organised on hosting small gatherings during digital rallies

3D tech to jazz up BJP virtual rallies

The BJP also plans to use 3D technology for 'virtual rallies'.

3D Studio Mix technology will be used to show together leaders sitting at two different places.

Apart from the usual BJP blitz on print and electronic media, the party is also rolling of vans and trucks with LED screens to beam campaign videos across the state, especially in rural areas.

BJP: The Tech trendsetter

The BJP has been the pioneer in using technology in election campaigning — whether it was former PM Atal Vihari Vajpayee’s pre-recorded phone message way back in 2004 or using 3D van technology and the missed call experiment in 2014. The party has been a tech trend setter.

UP's digital dangal: SP, Congress play catch up

The others are mere playing catch up in the tech dangal.

The Samajwadi Party is also planning virtual rallies to reach out to voters. The Akhilesh Yadav party has till now been relying on social media, but the problem is it's core support base is primarily rural.

To up its digital game, the SP is inviting people to join its WhatsApp groups and its workers have been asked to go to the rural interiors and connect with voters.

Congress' Priyanka Gandhi is also attempting to connect with people digitally. Priyanka launched her virtual campaign almost at the same time as the Election Commission announced the poll schedule.
The party plans to hold more interactive online sessions and lives of its leaders.

But while others are playing catch up, they are still way behind the BJP's tech and digital blitzkrieg in UP polls.