E-Paper
In Delhi, candidates rely on emails, videos as Lok Sabha poll campaign gathers momentum
Contestants in the fray for seven Lok Sabha seats in the national Capital are using internet and door-to-door meetings to reach out to over 13 million voters in the city. Some are also giving it a personal touch by engaging their family members to canvass support for them.
Contestants in the fray for seven Lok Sabha seats in the national Capital are using internet and door-to-door meetings to reach out to over 13 million voters in the city. Some are also giving it a personal touch by engaging their family members to canvass support for them.
Delhi will vote on May 12 and since only the Aam Aadmi Party has announced candidates for six seats, campaigning is yet to pick up in the city. The capital will witness a triangular contest between the AAP, the BJP and the Congress. Both the Congress and AAP have made it clear that they will not have a pre-poll alliance.
AAP candidate from East Delhi, Atishi, has found help from her family apart from her team of volunteers. To give an “emotional touch” to her campaign, Atishi’s mother and sister, over the past few weeks, have been sending e-mails to people seeking support for her both in the form of votes and donations.
“My daughter Atishi is running for Parliament and I am writing to seek your support for her election. After years of painstaking work in Delhi’s government schools, I am proud of the fact that Atishi has earned herself a reputation for being a change agent. The AAP is now fielding her as the candidate for the East Delhi Lok Sabha seat…. Atishi needs and deserves your support. Contribute generously to fund her election. With your help, she will be a powerful voice for change; something that politics in India needs,” read the mail sent by her mother, Tripta Wahi.
Being the first person to be declared a candidate for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Atishi, by now, has already run multiple online campaigns besides meeting voters in door-to-door campaigns and public meetings. Her team has also started a ‘DP campaign’ (display picture campaign) where volunteers have been asked to change their pictures on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to a template picture saying “My MP, Atishi”. The leader, who was an advisor to education minister Manish Sisodia, is also circulating a video showcasing the reforms done by the AAP government in the education sector.
Congress’s Ajay Maken, who is yet to get the party ticket, is using videos of eminent sportspersons such as boxer Mary Kom, footballer Baichung Bhutia to woo people in the New Delhi constituency. In the clips, these personalities are heard praising Maken, who is a former union sports minister. “The clips are from the years 2013-14. I want to give two signals to people – one is about the experience I have and the second is about the work that I have done. In the 2004 general elections, I was the first to make environment and pollution a key poll plank,” Maken said.
AAP’s South Delhi candidate Raghav Chadha’s team is using the hit number ‘Apna Time Ayega’ from the movie, Gully Boy. “In a way, the song is quite relatable to Delhi. It gives hope that good days are soon coming. Apart from this, my team also did a video series where they had crowd sourced questions so that people could relate to me better,” Chadha said.
“I have made ‘na darunga, na darane dunga’, the tagline of my campaign because South Delhi has been a den of goons for years. This will change if AAP wins,” he said.
