Political campaign and social media a study of 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Haryana

Abstract

The 2014 Lok Sabha election can be called a watershed election. The usual verdict presented a break-through from the on-going trend of coalition politics and the return of the wave elections. This can be attributed to the well-oiled machine and electioneering technique of the BJP on one hand, and the decline of the Congress on the other hand. The election brought the internet enabled social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter as medium to reach out to the voters into prominence. Since then social media platforms have been prominently used by the political parties to communicate with the electorate. Its usage became more refined during the 2019 general elections with even larger impact. This medium serves the platform for Mass Politics and also turned out to be influential in setting the agenda for the elections depicting the agenda-setting role of the media. The younger generations are most likely to be influenced by political campaigns on social media. So, social media driven political campaigns in a sense have changed the contours of electoral politics. newline