Most aspirants for civic polls have created profiles on Facebook and are using Twitter to catch the youths’ attention. They hope they would be able to woo voters, by reaching out to them via the Internet.
Candidates for the civic elections are trying out new modes of communication to reach out to young voters. Cellphone calls and SMSes are passe and use of Internet is the new rage. However, the youths look upon it as “a lazy tactic to which only fools would respond.”
Most aspirants for civic polls have created profiles on Facebook and are using Twitter to catch the youths’ attention. They hope they would be able to woo voters, especially the youth, by reaching out to them via the Internet. However, the youth say they do not take for granted the words from politicians in the virtual world.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has already posted a mini-manifesto online to reach out to Internet users, while candidates of other parties like the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Congress, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Shiv Sena as well as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have opened profiles on Facebook.
NCP leader from Bibvewadi, Prakash Laxmanrao Galande Patil has 946 friends on Facebook, while Nana Kate has 4,989 friends and 1,482 subscribers. BJP leader, Murlidhar Mohol has 4,997 friends, Rajendra Salunkhe 1,155, Ravindra Dhangekar 4,994 and Vikas Mathkari 4,641 friends. Among the politicians on Facebook are Yuvraj Shingade, Santosh Pharande, Vinayak Ranasubhe, Rajendra Kate and Sandip Khardekar.
A young customer service executive, Dnyaneshwar Banker told DNA, “I have not joined any party or candidate on Facebook nor do I wish to. If candidates are campaigning through the Internet it does not appeal to me. I will only vote for a deserving candidate as I do not think I will ever trust those who are reaching out to people in the virtual world.”
Human resources (HR) executive, Aditya Pant said, “These people have become lazy and are just sitting at home and campaigning at the click of a button. When they have been deceiving people while reaching out from door-to-door, why should I trust anyone making promises in the virtual world?”
Internet campaigning has not become a huge trend here as in the West. Seconding this opinion financial analyst, Aparna Venkatraman, said, “Not many politicians are Internet savvy and some young persons may be handling the account. I would not trust them as the person is not actually making moves to reach out on his own, someone else is handling his account. Also Internet campaigning has not gained as much popularity as in the western countries.”
A process engineer, Dinesh Aithal said, “I will not trust any appeals made on the Internet as it is a virtual world and definitely the appeals and promises made would also be only virtual.”
However, a young educationist, Sagarika Mohanty, said, “It is good if politicians are using modern ways to reach out to people. I will definitely trust them if the communication is via electronic media, because the first impression I’d get is that the person sending communication is educated.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}