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Poll season opens windows for cyber smart youngsters in Uttar Pradesh
Virtual world, real job opportunities: Politicians hire tech savvy youngsters in small towns to steer digital election campaign during poll season in Uttar Pradesh
The poll season has enabled cyber smart youngsters in small towns of Uttar Pradesh to log on to job opportunities. And the idea has clicked with politicians, too.
With the Election Commission’s curbs on physical rallies and road shows in place till January 31 in view of the Covid-19 situation, the major political parties in the state are running their election campaign online.
In this scenario, local politicians are hiring youngsters to make their presence felt virtually for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
These cyber smart digital campaigners are barely out of college. They use their know-how of social media and basic photography to steer the digital campaign of political leaders in the poll season.
Take the case of Tanuj Pandey, 18, from Barabanki. He starts his day by scrolling the social media page of Ravindra Singh, a Congress leader contesting the current elections. After checking a few responses of followers, he posts new content curated around Singh.
“I try to make at least 10 to 15 posts every day on various social media platforms. Most of these posts include a picture of bhaiya (Ravindra Singh) with a message of appeal for votes. The pictures are taken by our photographer while I edit and post them,” Pandey says.
“Mantri ji ka chehra hum log ghar-ghar pahunchate hain mobile phone ke zariye. Bas yahi kam hai(We take the leader’s face to every home via mobile phone. This is our only work),” says Sumedh Yadav, a 21-year-old college student in Pilibhit , while explaining the work he does as a digital campaigner for former Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Hemraj Verma.
Sumedh Yadav, who is well versed in Hindi and social media, manages a Facebook page, a Twitter handle, Instagram account and KOO for the politician.
“We have a photographer who stays with mantri ji. The photographer takes pictures and I share them online along with campaign statements. Earlier, I had to show every post to mantriji or his son before posting, but now I am allowed to make at least half the posts myself,” he explains.
Sumedh Yadav says his employer is not adept in information technology. This politician only understood the power of social media after hearing from his voters about his digital presence online, Yadav says.
Cyber smart youngsters like Yadav who are helping leaders, especially in the rural belt, to establish their presence online, work in teams of two or three in most cases and usually belong to the same town or area from which the politician hails.
Dhanush Dev Singh of Etah was hired as the campaign manager of a BJP leader. Singh, 23, is a science graduate from a local university. He manages the social media pages of his employer.
Apart from sharing messages on popular media platforms, Dhanush Dev Singh also runs several WhatsApp groups that include BJP supporters of the area.
“I am a member of a total of 43 groups that are made at the block or the village level in the constituency. I regularly post updates about our campaign on the groups, so that people are aware of our works and support it in the upcoming elections,” explains Dhanush who plans to continue his studies once the elections are over.
Armed with the knowledge of social media, these digital campaigners are paid anything between ₹20,000 and ₹1 lakh per month, depending on the kind of work they do. The money they get also depends on the place they work from.
In Badaun, the sitting BJP MLA Mahesh Chandra Gupta has a team of digital campaigners comprising three photographers and two graphic designers, who handle the social media for the candidate. He declined to reveal the money he pays to his team of digital campaigners.
“They work as per the guidelines of the Election Commission. They are also my supporters. I don’t know how to operate social media, so they help me in that. I don’t pay them much, but have helped them to buy some cameras and computers to work on,” Gupta explains.
The team churns out pictures and campaign messages for Gupta that are posted online. They also share the details about the upcoming activities of Gupta, including his meetings, with senior BJP leaders and routes for the door-to-door campaign.
While most of these digital campaigner post messages in Hindi, they also use regional languages.
“We also use curated voice messages and jingles of the candidates, which are usually shared in WhatsApp groups aimed at voters who are not literate,” says Ashish Mishra, 26, who started working as a digital media campaigner after completing his graduation in journalism.
