Congress to connect with Delhi voters via social media

With just a fortnight away from the polls for the 70-member Delhi Assembly, the Congress besides the traditional door to door campaigns and public rallies, is tapping the social media to connect with the voters.

The Congress, which ruled Delhi for 15 years from 1998 to 2013 and suffered losses in two assembly polls in 2013 and 2015, is looking for chance revival in this election.

In the past few days, the Congress social media team is pushing out videos, pictures, banners and memes to highlight the failures of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national capital.

A senior Delhi Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, told IANS, "In order to connect with the youth voters, the party is using the social media platforms to highlight the failures of the AAP and the BJP. The plan is to reach out to the youths who use smartphones. Through our social media campaign we are also making the people and youth aware of our party's plans for the development of Delhi."

A control room for the social media team has been formed on the second floor of Congress' state unit office. The social media team develops the content and forwards it to the WhatsApp groups of the frontal organisations and the candidates from all the Assemblies.

The frontal organisations like Mahila Congress, National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and others post the content on their concerned pages on social media platforms after receiving from the social media team.

Another party leader said that besides the senior party leaders campaigning for the candidates in their respective assemblies, the party has also roped in youths to campaign extensively across the city.

The youths have been asked to explain the developments that took place in Delhi during the tenure of three time Chief Minister Late Sheila Diskhit.

The ruling Congress managed to win eight seats in 2013 assembly polls, however, two years later, it was reduced to zero. The AAP managed to win 67 seats in the 2015 elections and the BJP could only win three seats.

Delhi will go to polls on February 8 and counting of votes will take place on February 11.IANS