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Channi, Kejriwal start campaign to reach out to Punjab voters via mobile phones
While Punjab CM Channi’s son, who manages his social media accounts, is handling the campaign, AAP has opted for ‘missed call’ campaign for its ‘Mission Nawan te Sunhera Punjab’
Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and his Delhi counterpart and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday launched campaigns to connect with people via mobile phones for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
Both Channi and Kejriwal are aiming to maximise the voter reach of their parties, but have taken a slightly different approach. Channi, who took over as the chief minister about three months ago, has opted for mobile phone calls with a pre-recorded voice message in which he urges people to join hands with him to make Punjab spectacular once again.
“Sat Sri Akal ji, this is Charanjit Singh Channi, chief minister of Punjab, calling. You have given me a chance to serve Punjab. I want that we should work together with honesty and sincerity to make Punjab spectacular once again. For this, I need you,” he says in the recorded message before asking them to press a number key on their phone to confirm their willingness to work together with him. Anyone who presses the key gets a welcome SMS with the link to a registration form and for giving suggestions.
“The party has set up a call centre which then gets in touch with the respondents to directly connect and inform them about the CM’s vision and achievements, besides responding to their suggestions and issues,” a member of the Punjab Congress social media group said.
Chief minister’ son Rhythmjit Singh, who manages his social media accounts, is handling the campaign. The AAP, on the other hand, has opted for the ‘missed call’ campaign for its ‘Mission Nawan te Sunhera Punjab’ to make an appeal to people to help it bring change in the state.
Kejriwal, in a video that was put on social media to launch the campaign, says the situation in Punjab is bad as children do not have jobs and many have gone abroad or taken to drugs. “Politicians and parties have destroyed Punjab. Only you can change Punjab…if you want to bring change, join this mission…there has been enough politics. Now, we need to stop rajneeti and do Punjabneeti,” the AAP national convener says before appealing to Punjabis to give a missed call at the number given by him.
AAP’s Punjab affairs in-charge and Delhi MLA Jarnail Singh said their thinking was different from other parties. “The AAP activities are centered around people, and not leaders. We involve people in everything from drafting our vision and policies to their implementation after forming the government. This is the beginning of that process,” he said.
The missed call data and follow-up will be done by the central team of the AAP which has also tried this successfully in polls in Delhi where the party is in power.
Want to cash in on state’s high teledensity
Both parties plan to use mobile phones aggressively for forging a connection with the voters and intensify their efforts as the elections draw closer. The reasons are not hard to find. The mobile teledensity in Punjab, according to the Niti Aayog Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) India Index 2020-21, is among the highest in the country with 122.19 mobile phone connections per 100 persons, thereby indicating that some people have two connections. This is much higher than the all-India teledensity of 84.38, according to the report.
The state also has the best internet penetration among the major states with 84.32 subscribers per 100 persons whereas only 55 of every 100 people have an internet connection in the country. A member of the AAP’s media management team said that given the number of smartphones and internet connections, the party would actively use social media and messaging services. “It is an effective tool even though not a substitute for campaigning on the ground. We still need to go out and directly connect with voters,” he added.
