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Influencers to spearhead online drive for high voter turnout
Even as the official machinery is swamped with preparatory works, online content creators have taken it upon themselves to ensure that more young voters participate in the Lok Sabha elections due in Lucknow on May 20.
The clock has begun to tick faster. Less than two weeks from now, the state capital will vote to decide its fate for the next five years.
Even as the official machinery is swamped with preparatory works, online content creators have taken it upon themselves to ensure that more young voters participate in the Lok Sabha elections due in Lucknow on May 20.
Eight young content creators, who’re also called influencers for their ability to reach out to thousands of their followers in mere seconds, from the city gathered at HT Spotlight-Elections 2024 held at HT’s office here to discuss how their content can be used to draw a mass of young voters to polling booths.
“My content, which I will post on Instagram, will be mostly humorous. In it, I will speak to my women audience, especially those who are married and have relocated to other cities, to come here and vote,” said Adya Srivastava, who’s followed by 333K people on the platform. Her content is about the daily routine household chores, and she is popular among young women.
Likewise, Saubhagya Dixit, a popular face in the city with 165K followers on the photo-sharing platform, suggested participants to make engaging videos to attract more crowd. “While my content is generally funny in which I speak in a U.P. dialect, this time my attempt will be to engage with most of my followers to encourage them to come out and vote,” she said, adding she would also be collaborating with HT and the district magistrate for an online initiative concerning the electors.
If not by faces, Prateek and Rafat are popular because of their voices, as both are popular radio jockeys in the city. Joining the HT initiative, they promised to make content to inform voters about arrangements being done for voters. They said they’ll take the help of short videos for the purpose.
Naval Kant Sinha, a political satirist popular on X for his #AmmaJaneDo hashtag, said, he would also pitch in and urged voters to go against the city’s culture and adopt “pehle mein”, and not “pehle aap”, just for a day.
Likewise, Shishta Maurya, a fashion blogger with 124K Instagram followers, said her reels would attempt to engage with more and more young voters.
“My videos are travel based and people watch me for information,” said Saquib Khan, who owns ‘I Love Lucknow’ page on the Gram.
Ashutosh Tripathi, a photojournalist whose videos often garner views in millions on Instagram said, “I will make informative videos to post on Instagram in collaboration with HT and the district administration.”
